Jews Driven Out of Guatemalan Town

 

Racist Hispanics???? 

• Say it ain't so.  Gee, I thought only white people could be racists.
• Hispanics in Guatemala post photos of Hitler, throw stones and threaten to put local Jews in cremation ovens.

Over thirty Jews are being expelled from San Juan La Laguna, a small Guatemalan town - all at the express request of the locals.

"We wanted a clean, quiet, peaceful and friendly place for our children to grow into adults," Misael Santos, a convert to Judaism from San Juan La Laguna, told Prensa Libre earlier this week.

However, that is not what Santos found; for about six months, the community has been subject to ongoing verbal and physical abuse - the result of a petition for the small Jewish community to be evicted.

Santos and one other Jewish family moved to the small town from Mexico city about six years ago, he said. But trouble really began after he began a synagogue, drawing Israelis and Jewish tourists alike to the Guatemalan heartland reports Israel National News.

"About seven months ago, visitors came to celebrate the Jewish New Year here," he stated. "A Mexican family stayed for five months. Were only two families in all, but then a public official began showing signs of discontent with the people here."

"We were only two families, but he wanted us to leave," he added. "We were doing nothing wrong - just exercising our freedom of religion."

Since then, word has spread about the Jews in San Juan La Laguna, beginning a torrent of abuse.

"I put myself in their place and perhaps they are right to feel scared because before we were two families and now there are ten. And seeing us with our traditional dress, which is black, out of devotion and humility, in the streets, may cause fear,” he admitted.

"But someone must be directing this, because someone printed out fliers with false information [about Judaism and Jews] and put it under everyone's doors."

After concerns about the tourists rose, the mayor ordered a Jewish registry to be drawn up listing the town's Jewish residents, Santos stated. The move was allegedly to keep note of tourism in the small town, but the Jewish community became wary.

The abuse has turned from incitement to anti-Semitic violence in a matter of weeks.

"They uploaded photos of [Adolf] Hitler to a website about the Jews in town, saying they will put us in cremation ovens," he said. "Fifteen days ago, a group of teenagers who has read the website came up to us and began throwing stones at us."

A policeman later joined the attack, he said, along with several adults. Santos and others eventually managed to call the National Civil Police on the attackers - but he said it only made things worse.

"The next day, the website was filled with anti-Semitic slurs and horrible pictures," he said. "Several of us wanted to flee that night, because we heard that there was talk of preparing a lynching."

Less than 24 hours later, several children began stoning a group of women in the Jewish community, shouting "You killed Jesus!" Then one of them through an amateur explosive device.

Community representatives immediately demanded an urgent meeting with the mayor after the incidents - but the situation only worsened.

“They asked us to get out of town because they said that we kidnap children, and then added to the fire by saying the town would be invaded by Jews,” he said. “At the meeting, a lady presented 300 alleged signatures, asking us to leave the village,” he added.

For the full article Israel National News