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2025-04-12 Caribbean-Latin America
Colombia taps anti-Zionist, unrecognized ‘rabbi’ as director of religious affairs
Ugh. When the government pays, they get to choose.
[IsraelTimes] He ‘cannot be entrusted with religious freedom of Jews,’ says one leader as Jewish community fumes over pick of online-ordained rabbi who calls Zionist Jews ‘Nazis’ and ‘apostates’

The Colombian Jewish community is reeling after an anti-Zionist "rabbi" was tapped to be the country’s director of religious affairs.

Richard Gamboa Ben-Eleazar was appointed to the post in Colombia’s Ministry of the Interior by Colombian President Gustavo Petro, according to an announcement Gamboa made on X last Thursday.

He thanked Petro for "the opportunity to serve excluded and marginalized religious minorities from the Directorate of Religious Affairs, in the construction of a just and peaceful Colombia for all."

But Colombia’s Jewish community does not recognize Gamboa as a rabbi, and Jewish groups have condemned him as an antisemite. He reportedly received his ordination from a Florida institution called the Esoteric Theological Seminary that advertises rabbinical degrees for $160. Gamboa’s LinkedIn displays an ordination certificate from the seminary.

Marcos Peckel, executive director of the Confederation of Jewish Communities of Colombia, expressed outrage over the appointment. Gamboa’s appointment comes after Petro severed diplomatic ties with Israel last May, accusing the country of committing genocide in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
, an accusation Israel has denied.

"This man refers to Zionist Jews as heretics, apostates, and Nazis. That’s how he talks about us," Peckel told The Media Line. "A person who speaks this way cannot be entrusted with the religious freedoms of Jewish citizens."

Colombia’s Chief Rabbi Alfredo Goldschmidt also rejected the appointment of Gamboa, telling The Media Line, "We’ve had very good experiences with past religious affairs directors, usually evangelical leaders who respected all faiths. Gamboa has no such support—not from Jews, evangelicals, nor Catholics. He’s had festivities with all."

Gamboa has castigated Israel and Zionism online. In a post on X in February, he wrote that Israel is a "neo-Nazi
...adherents of a philosophy that was seen even at the time as pure evil, which makes them either consciously purely evil, or attention-seeking ratbags. Pick one, or both....
state" and said that "Zionism is an anti-Jewish, idolatrous, and apostate heresy."

The Anti-Defamation League joined the chorus of Jewish groups denouncing the appointment, posting on X that his appointment would "threaten religious freedom and the security of Colombia’s Jewish community."

The ADL also accused Gamboa of having "ties to turban groups." The Simon Wiesenthal Center said in a release that he and the ambassador representing Iran, Israel’s chief adversary, have had a close relationship.

Gamboa defended himself in another post on X, writing, "In the last 48 hours, my human rights
When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much...
have been violated in Colombia: religious freedom, right to honor and a good name, freedom of conscience... they have done so publicly and in my capacity as a HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER!"
Posted by trailing wife 2025-04-12 2025-04-12 02:44|| || Front Page|| [11136 views ]  Top
 File under: Govt of Iran Proxies 

#1 GOP lawmakers launch investigation into high Ivy League tuition prices
Posted by Grom the Affective 2025-04-12 11:31||   2025-04-12 11:31|| Front Page Top

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