Last week's police raid at Club Hebraica, a Jewish community center in Caracas, was another manifestation of a government-sanctioned campaign of intimidation against the Venezuelan Jewish community.  The raid occurred only hours before Venezuelans voted on constitutional changes proposed by President Hugo Chavez.  During the raid, members of a police unit that investigates drug trafficking and terrorism reportedly broke the main gate of the center and searched the premises.  Needless to say, no arrests were made and they left empty handed.

This is the second time that Club Hebraica was raided since Chavez came to power.  In November 2004, a police incursion occurred in the early morning as children were being bused to school.  In the three years since, no clear government response has been given as to why Jews were targeted.  It seems far-fetched to think one will be offered to explain this latest incident.

It is especially dangerous when law enforcement commits these kinds of unfounded acts, as some may interpret them as justification to commit violence against Jews.  When a community is singled out and bullied in this way, the danger exists for xenophobes to seize on the government's actions to spread their hate.

Indeed, the Jewish community in Venezuela – approximately 15,000 people - is routinely the target of verbal intimidation in the government-sponsored media and is often scapegoated by government officials for some of the problems in Venezuelan society. 

Under Chavez's regime, anti-Semitism is used as a political tool.  Some government officials in Venezuela frequently resort to implicit and explicit anti-Semitic displays, including rehashing the ancient canard about Jewish control, vilifying Jews and Israel as agents of imperialism, and adopting anti-Semitic stereotypes about Jewish financial influence.  Instead of denouncing hateful speech, Chavez chooses to overlook anti-Jewish rhetoric and often endorses notorious anti-Semites in the media.

At the same time, Chavez has fallen into political step with some of the most dangerous players on the world scene today, while becoming an increasingly outspoken detractor of Israel.  He has repeatedly compared Israel to Hitler and the Nazis, and accused Israel of engaging in genocide against Arabs.  These views have been frequently expressed in various Venezuelan government-sponsored media outlets, in radio and TV broadcasts, newspaper articles and political cartoons.

Chavez has also adopted an aggressively hostile foreign policy stance against America and the West, while aligning Venezuela with countries and radical Islamic movements that are a verifiable threat to Israel and to world Jewry.

Included among his alliances with extreme leaders are Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.  He has also fostered relationships with convicted guerrilla terrorist Illich Ramirez Sanchez (a.k.a. Carlos The Jackal) and Holocaust Denier Norberto Ceresole of Argentina.

During the 2006 conflict in Lebanon, the Venezuelan National Assembly and various Venezuelan states issued a number of one-sided declarations against Israel and sponsored anti-Israel rallies.  Chavez was very aggressive in condemning Israel's actions against Hezbollah, recalling his charge d'affaires from Israel and threatening to sever diplomatic relations.  Most recently, anti-Israel forums were sponsored in Caracas by government institutions such as the Ministries of Information, Education and Culture, the national oil company, and a number of government-owned banks.

Under these conditions, and due to permissive actions and rhetoric of President Chavez and his officials, a climate of strong anti-Jewish sentiment has taken root in Venezuela.

We join the Confederaction Asociaciones Israelitas de Venezuela (CAIV) in their denunciation of the raid against Club Hebraica as an unjustifiable act against the Venezuelan Jewish community.  We join them in their call to investigate these acts which create unnecessary tensions between Venezuelan Jews and the Venezuelan government.  We join them in their desire to live peacefully and maintain their presence in a country that has embraced them for over 200 years.  We call on the Venezuelan government to end the instigation and intimidation of Venezuelan Jews.

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Abraham H. Foxman is national director of the Anti-Defamation League and the author of "The Deadliest Lies: The Israel Lobby and the Myth of Jewish Control." ADL, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, neither supports nor opposes any candidate for political office.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.