An umbrella group of Jewish organizations in Chile wrote to the country’s foreign minister this week, expressing concern that the government is not doing enough to combat a rise in antisemitism.
Nazila Ghanea, the U.N. special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, wrote in March to Chilean President Gabriel Boric, who has been very critical of Israel, calling on him to be more responsive to threats against the country’s 16,000 Jews.
Ghanea called Boric’s attention to a growing pattern of vandalism, harassment and other threats directed at synagogues and Jewish institutions and gatherings, including graffiti linked to the Israel-Hamas war.
Chilean Jews say they have faced growing verbal abuse and intimidation and that Boric has refused to meet with the Jewish community during his presidency. He has also ignored a congressional resolution calling on him to appoint a special antisemitism envoy, according to the community.
“The lack of accountability could foster a culture of impunity,” Ghanea wrote. The U.N. adviser said that law enforcement investigations and government condemnations of anti-Jewish incidents are lacking and are leading to a climate of less Jewish engagement by government officials out of safety concerns.
Even as Ghanea requested details about what the government was doing to combat hate speech, executives from the Comunidad Judía de Chile wrote to Alberto van Klaveren, the Chilean foreign affairs minister, this week that the government’s response “does not reflect the seriousness of the phenomenon” of spiking antisemitism, “nor the institutional omissions that have allowed it.”
The letter criticizes the government’s response to Ghanea, which included “general references to anti-discrimination policies, most of which were implemented by previous administrations,” but no “concrete initiatives to prevent, monitor or sanction antisemitism in Chile.”
The Jewish community asked Van Klaveren’s ministry to adopt a national antisemitism action plan and the widely accepted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of Jew-hatred, and to incorporate anti-religious hate and Holocaust education into school curricula.
Chile’s Jewish community, which represents just 0.1% of the population, is the third-largest Jewish community in South America.
It is primarily concentrated in the capital of Santiago. The U.S. State Department noted in its 2024 religious freedom report that there has been a noticeable increase in antisemitic activity in other cities, such as Temuco and Concepción.