By Donald H. Harrison in San Diego
INTERNATIONAL
Haaretz reported that Venezuela’s Interim President Delcy Rodríguez said during a televised address following the American capture of Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores that the operation “undoubtedly has Zionist undertones. It is truly shameful.”
The Times of Israel translated Rodríguez’s quotes this way: “The governments of the world are simply shocked that it is the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela which is the victim and subject of an attack of this nature, which has, without a doubt, a Zionist tint.” Rodriguez went on to say: “The extremists who have promoted armed aggression against our country – history and justice will make them pay.”
Whichever translation is correct, the Jewish community of Venezuela, estimated at 4,500, is battening down the hatches. All Jewish institutions were closed and community leaders urged Venezuelan Jews to remain at home, according to Dina Siegel Vann, the American Jewish Committee’s director of the Belfer Institute for Latino and Latin American Affairs (BILLA).
Rodríguez also said in her televised address that there was only one president of Venezuela and that president is Maduro – defying a reported agreement with the United States that she should follow U.S. directions. Responding, President Trump said if Rodríguez doesn’t do what’s right, “she’s going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro.”
On Meet the Press, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told moderator Kristen Welker that Maduro’s capture and arrest was essentially a law enforcement action, backed by the American military, to arrest the indicted head of a drug and weapons trafficking cartel, who also happens to be the illegitimate president of Venezuela.
“We are not going to be able to allow in our hemisphere a country that becomes a crossroads for the activities of all of our adversaries around the world,” Rubio said. “We just can’t allow it. We can’t have a country where the people in charge of its military and in charge of its police department are openly cooperating with drug trafficking organizations. We can’t – we’re not going to allow that. These are – these things are direct threats to the United States, and we intend to use every element of leverage that we have to ensure that that changes.”
Meanwhile, on Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) said a resolution on Venezuela will come to the Senate floor this week. It would constrain the United States from taking further military action in Venezuela. He said the operation to capture the Maduros was a violation of the War Powers Act. On ABC’s This Week, Schumer commented: “They went inside Venezuela, bombed civilian as well as military places. And it’s a violation of the law to do what they did without getting the authorization of Congress.”
Maduro is expected to be arraigned on Monday in the federal court of Senior Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein.
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In Templin, Germany, an early Sunday morning fire damaged the home of Andreas Büttner, the antisemitism commissioner for the German state of Brandenburg. Arson is suspected with Büttner calling the fire an “expression of hate and intimidation.” He added that “such actions will not lead to me being quieter or to me questioning my approach — they only give me strength in what I do.”
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Eva Schloss, an acquaintance of diarist Anne Frank, whose mother Elfriede Geiringer married Otto Frank after the deaths of their respective families in the Holocaust, died in London on Saturday, Jan. 3, at age 96. King Charles wrote on social media: “My wife and I are greatly saddened to hear of the death of Eva Schloss. The horrors that she endured as a young woman are impossible to comprehend and yet she devoted the rest of her life to overcoming hatred and prejudice, promoting kindness, courage, understanding and resilience through her tireless work for the Anne Frank Trust UK and for Holocaust education across the world. We are both privileged and proud to have known her and we admired her deeply. May her memory be a blessing to us all.” Schloss was the cofounder and honorary president of the Anne Frank Trust. Queen Camilla is the organization’s patron.
NATIONAL
Stephen Flatow, president of the Religious Zionists of America-Mizrachi, said New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has revoked his city’s IHRA definition of antisemitism while offering nothing in its place. “The result is confusion for institutions, diminished accountability for offenders, and increased risk for Jewish New Yorkers already facing heightened harassment and threats.” …
Primetimer reports that Jessica Tisch, the New York City Police Commissioner, has the same title, but she has been moved down the organizational chart of the City of New York. Under Eric Adams and preceding mayors, the police commissioner reported directly to the mayor. Under Zohran Mamdani, Tisch will report to Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan.
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Donald H. Harrison is publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World