“I am very sore, we are studying the issue, this transcends Nacional because the issue of the tweets has nothing to do with what happened on the pitch,” he told The Observer, the president of the Central Israelite Committee of Uruguay, Roby Schindler.
“The networks are the sewers of cowards, it is very easy for anyone to say what they want and the anti-discrimination laws that we have in this country are not well known or useful enough for us to learn. Because today it is against the jews and tomorrow it is against others. It would seem that those laws that are wonderful They are not serving for anything because they are things that happen every day“, he added.
In the different tweets that were posted after the game, several users insulted the Hebraica fans with anti-Semitic phrases and trivialized the Jewish Holocaust with images of Adolf Hitler.
Schindler pointed out that the Israelite Central Committee is already aware of the issue and that they are evaluating making a complaint to Computer Crimes, so that they can find out where the anti-Semitic tweets came from. “I get frustrated because my team doesn’t win and then they say what can hurt the other. And they say things out of ignorance, I encourage myself to think that they must have no idea what they are saying because no one in their right mind can say those things“, he added.
“What I would love for people to know is that this is not free. That when you take out one of those tweets, they can find out your address, they can call you, you have to do community work“, he described.
For his part, Schindler is the representative for civil associations of the Honorary Commission against Racism, Xenophobia and all other forms of Discrimination (Chrxd), which is chaired by the Ministry of Education and Culture, and which is also a member of the Ministry of the Interior, that of Social Development and ANEP. “In the commission we are already dealing with the issue. Hate is fought with light. That is the way I think and that Judaism has of thinking about these issues. With education. But this does not end here“.
In turn, he announced that they do not rule out raising the situation with the National Institution for Human Rights (Inddhh), which is also in charge of monitoring situations of anti-Semitism. “The important thing is that this is known, that this happens, that those who generate policies know that it is happening. If you find out about something and don’t report it, I don’t know if you don’t become an accomplice to it.“.
Schindler announced that the Chrxd met with representatives of the National Sports Secretariat and ANEP to launch an educational project to combat violence in sport. “Outside the possibility of the law, there is the possibility of teaching, of educating. What is really important is education.”
“Yesterday was an exacerbation of something that is constant”
Although the anti-Semitic tweets that went viral occurred in the context of the basketball final, for Roberto Kohn, director of the B’nai B’rith for Latin America, “yesterday was an exacerbation of something that is constant.” . “Week after week there are anti-Semitic attacks. I I saw anti-Semitic tweets throughout the tournament but yesterday it was exacerbated because the players behaved indecently“he told El Observador.
“Any excuse is good to express hate. And justice cannot play with these things. If you see something like this, you can perfectly act ex officio. Uruguay has all the existing laws and for having, an anti-discrimination law, approved the definition of anti-Semitism worldwide, what is missing is to act ex officio, it is not necessary that there be a complaint“.
Kohn recalled that, when in 2021, from social networks wronged Honorary Scientific Advisory Panel (GACH) member Henry Cohen Because he is Jewish, several former presidents asked for action to be taken ex officio but “nothing was done.” “It is a bad precedent because Uruguay can do it“.
“When the players hold onto the pitch, is not acting ex officio? And is that less serious than yelling profanity at Deborah Rodríguez like they yelled at a sports venue or insulting an entire community? What I see are distinctions, some things yes and others no“, he questioned.
