Landmark ruling: Argentine politician convicted of antisemitism under IHRA definition

Alejandro Bodart responded to the court's decision with a public statement, saying "Zionism also colonizes the justice system. Of course, we will appeal."

By MATHILDA HELLER JANUARY 5, 2025 04:57

Representatives of DAIA, Argentina's Jewish umbrella organization, present 2023 data about antisemitic incidents at Buenos Aires City Legislature, Sept. 16, 2024. (photo credit: COURTESY / DAIA)

A criminal court in Buenos Aires convicted left-wing politician Alejandro Bodart last week for violating the country's anti-discrimination law, which is based on the IHRA definition of antisemitism.

Bodart, of the Workers' Socialist Movement, received a suspended sentence of six months in prison following the ruling on December 30, 2024.

The news was announced by both the Simon Wiesenthal Center Latin America (SWC), which provided an expert affidavit that the court relied on, and also by Bodart himself.

The landmark ruling used the IHRA definition - codified into Argentina's legal framework since 2020 - to rule Bodart's actions antisemitic. 

74 años de la catástrofe que vive el pueblo palestino, a manos del Estado racista y genocida de Israel. La llave, símbolo de sus casas y tierras robadas, está presente en cada lucha. Por una Palestina laica y democrática, del río al mar.#Nakba74 pic.twitter.com/HLtjVYHG6A

— Alejandro Bodart (@Ale_Bodart) May 15, 2022

Bodart's actions centered on the content of three posts on X/Twitter, in which he referred to Israel as "racist and genocidal" and called for Israel to be eradicated and replaced with a single Palestinian state "from the River to the Sea."

Demonstrators rally in support of Palestinians amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, outside the White House in Washington, U.S., November 4, 2023 (credit: REUTERS/ELIZABETH FRANTZ)

Such statements, under Argentina's law, contravene the IHRA definition-based anti-discrimination dogma.

Bodart also equated Zionism with Nazism in a third post.

SWC response

The director for Latin America at SWC, Dr. Ariel Gelblung, who provided the affidavit, said the comparison to Nazism was "deeply perverse" and "equates a movement for self-determination with a project of racial annihilation while suggesting that the Nazis were justified in attempting to destroy the Jewish people."

Bodart was originally acquitted, however a successful appeal by the DAIA (Delegación de Asociaciones Israelitas Argentinas, the umbrella organization for Argentina's Jewish community) and the city Prosecutor’s Office ultimately led to the successful conviction.

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Gelbung said the decision created a significant precedent: “This ruling incorporates the IHRA definition of antisemitism as a legal basis for interpreting Argentina's anti-discrimination laws. It draws a clear boundary against hate speech disguised as political expression."

Bodart's response

Bodart responded to the court's decision with a public statement, saying, "Zionism also colonizes the justice system. Of course, we will appeal."

“Punishing those of us who condemn a genocide such as the one that the State of Israel is committing against the Palestinian people is not only a totalitarian attack against the right to freedom of expression but also shows de facto complicity," he added. 

"While the International Court of The Hague, the International Criminal Court, the UN Commission on Human Rights, Pope Francis, countless human rights organizations, democratic sectors, and millions of people around the world repudiate such crimes against humanity, and [Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal wanted for arrest, they intend to silence me for telling the truth in three tweets in solidarity with the just Palestinian cause." he continued.

He then added, "They will not succeed because there are more and more of us who do not remain silent in the face of this crime, this barbarity.”

"The claim by judges Ignacio Mahiques and Jorge Atilio Franza that those of us who reject the Israeli state are 'antisemitic' is an unprecedented absurdity, since then Zionism would be the only political ideology in all of history and the entire world that cannot be questioned," Bodart went on.

"From now on, with my defense attorneys María del Carmen Verdú and Ismael Jalil, we are going to appeal this shameful ruling as soon as the judicial recess is over. In addition, my colleagues are redoubling the national and international campaigns in defense of free expression. Denouncing a genocide is not a crime: it is a basic democratic obligation," he concluded.