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Venezuelan-Israeli relations have soured under the Presidency of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Israel.

Venezuela Israeli history

Venezuela voted in favor of Israeli membership in the United Nations on November 27, 1947 and established diplomatic ties. During the Six-Day War many Venezuelan Jews went to Israel to fight for independence.

When the United Nations passed General Assembly Resolution 3379 on November 10, 1975, "determin that Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination," Venezuela abstained.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres visited Caracas in January, 1995, to "cement ties with friendly countries, and to deepen cooperation in areas of mutual benefit". Venezuela's Foreign Minister noted that "The reception that was given for Foreign Minister Peres was unprecedented".

Venezuelan coup attempt of 2002

On April 11, President Chávez was briefly ousted during a coup d'état, and businessman and Venezuelan Federation of Chambers of Commerce (Fedecámaras) president Pedro Carmona was installed as interim President. The pro-Chávez Presidential Guard eventually retook the Miraflores presidential palace without firing a shot and the Carmona government failed.

WorldPress.org reprinted a Proceso liberal newsmagazine report claiming a high-level military source said Isaac Pérez Recao participated in, and helped finance, the coup against Chávez, and controlled a "right-wing extremist" group that was "well armed... under the operations command of Rear Adm. Carlos Molina Tamayo" who was put in charge of Carmona’s military ministry. The article says Recao's group "was connected to a security company owned by former Mossad agents", and that Marcelo Sarabia, Carmona's bodyguard, was linked to several security organizations, one of which was one run by Mossad. The Israeli embassy in Venezuela denied that Recao ever worked for either the Israeli embassy or Mossad.

Znet reports that Chávez said the Secretary General of OPEC, Venezuelan Alí Rodríguez, warned Chávez over a month before the attempted coup d'état that Libya and Iraq planned to call for an oil embargo against the United States in retaliation for its support for Israel, and that the U.S. was going to try to replace Chávez with a ruler who would break the embargo before it could begin. Rodríguez went on to become the president of Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA), and served as the Venezuelan Foreign Minister.

According to the Stephen Roth Institute, the newspaper Ultimas Noticias accused Mossad of complicity in the coup, and Venezolana de Television claimed that Carmona was "going to rule together with the Jews". Deputy Angel Landaeta, from the left-wing Fifth Republic Movement (MVR) founded by Chávez, accused Pedro Carmona in the political committee of the National Assembly on May 2, of having intended a "Sharon operation," in order to do "what the Jews are doing in Palestine".

Military aircraft deal

In 2005, the U.S. State Department prevented a military deal in which Israel would fix and upgrade Venezuela’s U.S.-built F-16 fighter jets by not granting export licensing approval to the Israeli government. The Sharon administration angered the State Department earlier that year when it sold U.S.-built aerial drones to China. Later, in October, 2005, JINSA reported that the State Department "request" the Israeli government end all military contracts with Venezuela that involved U.S.-derived technology and refrain from future sales of Israeli military technology to Venezuela. The United States Defense Department responded on October 21 by saying, "Israel asked for Washington’s green light over the contract," to which Washington said no. According to journalist Alessandro Parma of Voltairenet.org, "The arms sale to China that upset the Americans so much had been for a sophisticated early-warning aircraft system called Phalcon. The repair of the relatively old Venezuelan F16 fighters is quite simple by comparison."

2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict

On August 3, 2006 Chávez ordered the Venezuelan charge d'affaires to Israel, to return from Tel Aviv to Caracas, protesting the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. The Israeli government responded by recalling the Israeli ambassador to Venezuela.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev responded, "As an act of protest against the one-sided policy of the president of Venezuela and in light of his wild slurs against the state of Israel and in response to the recall of the Venezuelan charge d'affaires to his country, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni decided to bring our ambassador in Venezuala back temporarily for consultations."

In an interview with the news agency Al Jazeera in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, Chávez made the first of his statements regarding Israel and the conflict, saying, "They are doing what Hitler did against the Jews."

According to The Miami Herald, two days later, on his Sunday radio program, Aló Presidente (Hello President), Chávez accused Israel of "going mad and inflicting on the people of Palestine and Lebanon the same thing they have criticized, and with reason: the Holocaust. But this is a new Holocaust" with the help of the United States, which he described as a terrorist country. He went on to say that the United States refuses "to allow the Security Council to make a decision to halt the genocide Israel is committing against the Palestinian and Lebanese people."

Dow Jones Newswire reported that, on August 10, while giving a speech in eastern Venezuela, Chávez said Venezuelans are "making a call to world leaders, for the love of God, let's halt this crazy fascist aggression against innocent people. Are we human or what are we?... I feel indignation for Israel's assault on the Palestinian people and the Lebanese people. They dropped bombs on shelters. ... It's a Holocaust that is occurring there."

Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said on August 13, 2006 that Venezuela would not endorse an OPEC oil embargo in response to the Middle East crisis, but did say, "What we have been warning and denouncing over the past two years is the permanent aggression of U.S. foreign policy toward OPEC producers" which continue to "pressure" the oil market. Ramirez attributed record high oil prices to U.S. "policy of permanent aggression toward Venezuela, Iran..." and "countries in the Persian Gulf."

In response to the Israeli airstrike of Qana, on July 31, Vice President Rangel said, "This murder of dozens of women and children has no justification whatsoever." The UN and other powerful nations shared blame for the attack because they had responded to Israel's military campaign in Palestine and Lebanon with "silence and omissions. Venezuela has never had any anti-Jewish attitudes, recognizes the existence of Israel as a state, welcomes the Jewish community and guarantees its total respect."

See also

• Foreign policy of Hugo Chávez

Notes

1. Cite error: The named reference Krusch was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
2. United Nations. RESOLUTION ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY: 3379 (XXX). Elimination of all forms of racial discrimination. 10 November 1975. Accessed 13 August 2006.
3. Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Foreign Ministry Statement on visit of Foreign Minister Peres to Venezuela and Argentina. VOLUME 15: 1995-1996: 15 Jan 1995. Accessed 13 August 2006.
4. ^ Back, by Popular Demand? How Venezuela's Hugo Chávez Got a Second Chance. World Press Review, July 2002 (VOL. 49, No. 7).
5. Vheadline.com. The Israeli Embassy in Caracas denies knowledge of Isaac Perez Recao. May 2, 2002. Accessed August 12, 2005.
6. Palast, Greg. Opec Chief Warned Chavez About Coup. Znet (May 13, 2002).
7. ^ Stephen Roth Institute. Annual Report 2002-3: Venezuela. Accessed August 11, 2006.
8. U.S.-Israel Defense Relations on Mend But New American Veto Policy Crimps Israeli Arms Sales. JINSA: Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs(November 10, 2005). Accessed August 13, 2006.
9. Parma, Alessandro. U.S. Continues to Block Venezuelan Defense Development. Voltairenet.org (October 26, 2005). Accessed on August 11, 2006.
10. Israel is not informed about Venezuela's plans to break off relations. El Universal (August 9, 2006).
11. Haaretz.com. ADL: Chavez comparison of IDF and Hitler is outrageous. Haaretz service (August 8, 2006).
12. Mather, S. VenezuelaAnalysis.com (August 8, 2006). Israel Withdraws its Ambassador for Venezuela. VenezuelaAnalysis.com.
13. ^ Shoer-Roth, Daniel. MiamiHerald.com (9 August 2006) Uproar: Chávez equates Nazis, Israelis. Accessed 9 Aug 2006.
14. Dow Jones Newswire (August 10, 2006). Venezuela President Asks International Leaders To Halt Israeli Offensive. Morning Star.
15. ^ Venezuela Won't Push for Israel Boycott. ABC7 News (August 13, 2006). Accessed August 13, 2006.
16. "Roundup: Latin American countries condemn Israeli brutal attack on Lebanon. People's Daily Online. (July 31, 2006). Available here. Accessed 14 August 2006.

• Foreign relations of Israel
• Foreign relations of Venezuela
• History of Venezuela
• Hugo Chávez