MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Iran ambassador and Palestinians in Chile ‘monitored’ with Israel collaboration

Israeli Defence Attaché to Chile Yoeli Or (Photo CNN)

Israeli special defence forces – concerned about what they saw as an increased Iranian presence in South America – collaborated with Chile’s government to monitor “unusual activity” within the Iranian and Palestinian communities, a newly released cable from Wikileaks has shown.

The July 28, 2008 cable written by Juan Alsace, then economic and political adviser to the U.S. Ambassador reveals the Israelis Defence Attaché’s role in monitoring the Iranian Ambassador to Chile, as well as a group of Palestinian immigrants to the country.

“Israel is also watching as a growing number of Muslims immigrate to Chile,” the cable says. Approximately 37 Palestinian Muslims who had arrived earlier that year under a UN-sponsored resettlement program were also under surveillance.

Iran re-established their ambassadorial position in Chile in early 2008. While there have never been signs of Iranian affiliation with terrorist groups in Chile, the two secret services were “screening [them] for anything they deem suspicious,” Alsace writes.

Israeli Defence Attaché to Chile Yoeli Or said, according to the cable, “that he works with Chile’s Investigative Police (PDI) and ‘other agencies’ sharing information and providing training when possible.”

Iranian Ambassador Kambiz Jalai was “unaware of any Chilean government requests for Israel’s help in countering Iran's influence,” the cable says.

Estimates of the number of Palestinians living in Chile range between 350,000 and 500,000, and many of them are third-generation Christians. Chile’s community is the largest body of Palestinians in any country outside the Arab world.

In late 2010, debate was sparked when President Sebastián Piñera’s government was the fourth in a string of South American countries to officially recognize an independent Palestinian state.

By Patrick Bodenham – Santiago Times