An Argentinian magistrate on Thursday requested the removal of one of the definitions of the word “Jew” from the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), presented as an adjective that can describe a person who is “greedy or usurious.”
Judge Ariel Lijo ordered the RAE to “immediately delete the fifth definition of the word “Jew” because it constitutes hate speech which incites discrimination on religious grounds,” according to the court decision cited by the website Argentinian information Infobae.
In addition, it requested the National Communications Agency of Argentina to block the link to this definition from the RAE Online Spanish Dictionary until it complies with this request.
A complaint was filed on August 28 by Claudio Epelman, executive director of the Latin American Jewish Congress, and Jorge Knoblovits, president of the delegation of Jewish associations in Argentina.
The complaint, according to Infobae, is based on a violation of an Argentine law that provides for a prison sentence of one month to three years for those who participate in an organization or who propagate “ideas aimed at justifying or promoting racial or religious discrimination in any form whatsoever.
In 2021 and 2023, Jewish institutions and anti-discrimination organizations had already asked, in vain, the secretary general of the RAE, Santiago Munoz Machado, to remove this definition.
Argentina is home to the largest Jewish community in Latin America which suffered two attacks against it: one against the Israeli embassy in 1992, which killed 29 people, and the other against the Mutual Association Argentine Israelite (Amia) in 1994, which left 85 dead.
