When Victims Rule (pdf)

GOVERNMENT (PT. 2)
In Argentina, the American Jewish Yearbook noted in 1987 that
“right-wing members of the military and rightist elements of the
Catholic Church and the Peronist trade unions charged that [earlier
president Raul] Alfonsin’s government was in the hands of the so-called
Sinagoga Radical (Radical synagogue), referring to the large number of
Jews in high-level government positions … Among Jews who occupied
prominent positions in the government were Marcos Aguinis, secretary
of culture and advisor to the president, and later the person responsible
for organizing the First National Educational Congress; Cesar Jaroslavsky,
president of the Radical Civic Union bloc in the Chamber of
Deputies; Bernardo Grinspun, the first minister of the economy in Alfonsin’s
cabinet; Leopoldo Portnoi, president of the Central Bank; Jacobo
Fiterman, public works commissioner in the Buenos Aires city
administration … Fiterman had earlier been president of the Zionist
Organization and head of the local United Jewish Appeal, called CUJA.”
[SINGER, D., 1989, p. 72]
The appointment of Aguinis, a “well-known Jewish psychoanalyst and writer,”
as cultural minister “enraged the Catholic Church and its allies.” [ELKIN,
1998, p. 264-265]
Other Alfonsin-era Jewish prominent officials included the Treasury Secretary
(Mario Brodersohn), the Minister of Education (Adolfo Stubrin), the
Secretary of State for Science and Technology (Manuel Sadosky), the Undersecretary
of State for Information and Development (Robert Schteingart), the
Undersecretary for Research and Administrative Reform (Oscar Oszlak), and
the rector of the University of Buenos Aires (Oscar Shuberoff). [ELKIN, J.
1998, p. 264] (Earlier, Polish-born Jose Ber Gelbard was a controversial Minister
of Economics).
“The warm acceptance of Jews by the Alfonsin regime,” notes David Singer,
“was evident not only in the conspicuous presence of Jewish individuals within
the government but in specific indications of support for Jewish issues.” [SING-
ER, D., 1989, p. 272] This increasing warmth to Jews in Argentine business and
government prompted a right-wing general, Ramon Campos, to publish “a
book in which he charged the Jewish banking interests were subverting the state
and [he] warned of Zionist infiltration.” [ELKIN, J. 1998, p. 264] “Some Argentine
military sectors,” wrote Jacobo Timerman in 1981,
“… at various times, [ha]ve voiced the need to avoid any expression
of anti-Semitism, maintaining this as a tactical necessity … Their main
argument in favor of avoidance of any suspicion of anti-Semitism invariably
has been the need to avoid confrontation with the powerful
Jewish community in the United States.” [TIMERMAN, J., 1981,
p. 131]
Alfonsin’s successor through the 1990s, Carlos Menem, has had close Jewish
advisors, particularly Samuel Muzykanski and Moises Iknonicoff. His Minister
of Interior (Carlos Corach) and Deputy Justice Minister (Elias Jassan) are also
Jewish. [ELKIN, J. 1998, p. 265] Celso Lafer was also Minister of Foreign Affairs
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