Argentine justice condemns left-wing leader for criticizing the Israeli government

Published at: 03/01/2025 06:48 PM

The Criminal, Juvenile Criminal, Contraventional and Misdemeanors Chamber of the City of Buenos Aires sentenced Alejandro Bodart, leader of the Socialist Workers Movement (MST), to six months in prison for his statements against the Israeli Zionist government, which it held responsible for the death of thousands of Palestinians.

The ruling was based on a series of publications made in 2022, considered “anti-Semitic” because they compared Zionism to Nazism.

Among the questioned expressions, published on the social network X, Bodart wrote phrases such as: “Zionists = Nazis” and “74 years since the catastrophe that the Palestinian people are experiencing, at the hands of the racist and genocidal State of Israel”.

The Delegation of Argentinian Israeli Associations (DAIA) argued that these statements violate Anti-Discrimination Law 23,592 and asked the leader to retract it. However, Bodart responded with a letter in which he reaffirmed his position.

The House ruling had the majority vote of judges Ignacio Mahiques and Jorge Atilio Franza, who argued that the leader's expressions constitute an incitement to violence and delegitimize the existence of the State of Israel.

For his part, Bodart announced that he will appeal the conviction in all judicial instances, until reaching the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation. In a statement, the Trotskyist leader described the sentence as a sign of intolerance against criticism of Zionism.

Mazo News Team