The World Jewish Congress today voiced its concern about the recent official registration in Argentina of a neo-Nazi party, Bandera Vecinal, a status that allows the party to compete in the 2015 presidential elections. “This ugly party espouses the ideology and revels in the trappings of the Hitler regime, and it should be banned, shunned and isolated, not accepted into politics,” said World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder.

Claudio Epelman, Executive Director of the Latin American Jewish Congress, the Argentine-based arm of WJC, said that the organization views with great concern the official approval received by Bandera Vecinal, which translates to “Local Flag” in English. The party’s leader, Alejandro Biondini, has publicly and repeatedly praised Adolf Hitler and Nazism and is frequently pictured giving the Nazi salute surrounded by swastikas, Epelman said.

“It is troubling that an openly neo-Nazi party can arise in this country. It’s inconsistent with the culture of acceptance and diversity among the Argentine people, whose country served as refuge for victims of the Nazi regime, a regime Biondini reveres,” Epelman said. “We will monitor the activities and discourse of Biondini’s party and will denounce any hate speech and incitement of violence against any minority groups in our country.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)