14ymedio, Havana, 11 October 2023 — The Jewish community of Cuba, grouped in an NGO that has never been characterized as dissident, has expressed its severe disagreement with the Government about the conflict unleashed in Israel as a result of the unprecedented attack by Hamas terrorist militias that infiltrated its territory.
“The Federation of Jewish Communities of Cuba totally disagrees with the pronouncement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba in the face of the events that are taking place in Israel, generated by acts of total terrorism,” reads a post by the Board of Trustees of the House of the Jewish Community, published on Monday, two days after the aggression began.
On the same Saturday of the attack, the Ministry released a statement in which it expressed its “serious concern” about the “escalation of violence,” for which in no case did it blame Hamas, but rather the “75 years of permanent violation of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and Israel’s aggressive and expansionist policy.”
In the same text, they demanded “a comprehensive, just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, on the basis of the creation of two States, which allows the Palestinian people to exercise their right to self-determination and to have an independent and sovereign State within the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.” They also called on the UN to “end the impunity of Israel, the occupying power, with which the United States has been complicit.”
It is more than proven that the State of Israel has nothing against the Palestinian Authority; the war is with Hamas, an openly terrorist organization
In the face of the regime, the Federation is blunt: “It is more than proven that the State of Israel has nothing against the Palestinian Authority; the war is with Hamas, an openly terrorist organization.”
For them, “justifying the reprehensible acts of crime and savagery” is unacceptable. “The terrorism that occurred since last Saturday in the territory of Israel, of which the international media give clear samples with videos shared by the members of Hamas themselves, who filmed how they killed in cold blood and with impunity, indiscriminately, children, young people and the elderly, including more than 260 young people from various countries who were innocently attending a large outdoor youth festival in the southern part of Israel, is totally unbalanced and lacking in coherence,” they say in their publication, making clear their “total support for the right of the State of Israel to defend itself.”
This Wednesday, the Board of Trustees of the House of the Jewish Community reiterated its position, asking to spread the news about the conflict, because “silence” made possible the extermination of six million Jews in the Holocaust.
It also mentioned another publication that praises the “powerful statement” of the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, who “has had the courage to say what many won’t.”
The Cuban Federation of Jewish Religious Communities put in writing what it thought from the first day of the attacks, which it immediately condemned. “Once again Hamas shows its true face, the face of terror, the face of betrayal, the face of opportunism, the face that many do not want to see,” it said in a statement, recalling that Israel “warns the civilian population with enough time to prevent the deaths of innocent people whose responsibility lies solely with Hamas.”
The Federation of Jewish Religious Communities of Cuba is composed of all the synagogues of the Island and the B’nai B’rith Lodge. Its headquarters is located on Calle I between 13 and 15 in El Vedado, in Havana.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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