Andinia Plan

Andinia Plan (Spanish: Plan Andinia) refers to a conspiracy theory to allegedly establish a Jewish state in parts of Argentina and Chile. It is partly based on an exaggeration of historical proposals for organized Jewish migration to Argentina in the late 19th and the early 20th century (which, however, did not include plans for a Jewish state there). The name and contents of the plan have wide currency on the Argentinian and Chilean far-right, but no evidence of its actual existence has ever been brought up, making it, according to the US-based Anti-Defamation League and the Israeli research institute Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, an example of a conspiracy theory.[1][2]

This alleged plan has been used as a rhetorical device by far right circles to attack Jews and Jewish institutions. In 1971 a leaflet appeared among officers in the Argentinean army under the name "Plan Andinia," which accused international Jewry and Zionists of planning to take over southern Argentina. It has been circulating ever since.

Jewish migration to Argentina and early Zionist plans
Main articles: History of the Jews in Argentina and Agricultural colonies in Argentina § Jewish migration

Starting in 1880, Argentine governments had a policy of massive immigration, and the liberal tendencies of the Roca administration were instrumental in making European Jews feel welcome.

Maurice de Hirsch sponsored the Jewish Colonization Association for the support of agricultural settlements, and the idea was seriously considered as an alternative to Palestine by leading Zionists such as Theodore Herzl. However, these did not include plans for an independent Jewish state there, but for a local Jewish autonomy. The notion of a Jewish homeland, not in Palestine, but elsewhere in the world, such as a region of South America or in East Africa, eventually led to the schism of the Jewish Territorialist Organization. The actual early 20th century Jewish settlement effort was rather focused on the other extremity of the country, Entre Ríos Province and surroundings, where it coexisted alongside other European settlements.

The Jewish population in Argentina grew and prospered in the ensuing years, though the community eventually became much more urban.

Conspiracy theory
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The extreme right-wing had a strong foothold in the Argentine military, mostly through the teachings of Jordán Bruno Genta. In these circles, the Andinia Plan was sometimes assumed to be a fact, even though the Zionist movement had abandoned all plans related to Argentina decades ago,[3] and Argentine Jewish institutions (headed by Delegación de Asociaciones Israelitas Argentinas) were recognized by (and conversant with) all Argentine governments, including military juntas.

Later versions of the Plan, as published in Argentine Neo-Nazi media since the 1970s, involved an alleged Israeli intention to conquer parts of Patagonia in Argentina's south, and declare a Jewish state. This theory did not take hold in mainstream political discourse. Many Israelis tour South America, some of them immediately after their military service as a gap year experience, with Patagonia being a favored destination [4], this is believed by conspiracy theories to be attempts to carry out the aforementioned Andinia Plan.[5] However, there are strong reasons to doubt the relationship of these facts with the materialization of a plot to make Patagonia a second Israel, of which there is no evidence according to academic studies and the facts.[6]

During the 1976–1983 dictatorship, some Jewish prisoners of the armed forces, notably Jacobo Timerman,[7][8] were tortured for information about the Andinia plan, and were asked to provide details regarding the alleged preparations of the Israeli Defense Forces for the invasion of Patagonia.[9]

In 2012, some Chilean politicians including members of the National Congress from the Christian Democratic Party and the Party for Democracy alleged that a fire in the Chilean Patagonia was in some way connected to the Andinia plan, prompting condemnation from the ADL.[2]

Timerman recalled details of the interrogation about the Plan Andinia – and his response about the absurdity of such a concept – in Preso Sin Nombre, Celda Sin Número (Prisoner Without A Name, Cell Without A Number).[9]

See also

References
  1. "Argentina: A Case Study on Current Anti-Semitism". Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  2. "ADL Outraged by Anti-Semitic Conspiracies Circulating in Connection with Tragic Fire in Chilean Patagonia". Anti-Defamation League. January 5, 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  3. Calabrese, Frank J. (1994). The Palestine legacy: a politico-legal history, 1917–1990. UNIFO Publishers. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-89111-031-6.
  4. https://radio.uchile.cl/2017/02/18/conducta-espantosa-de-turistas-israelies/ (spanish)
  5. https://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=240096 (spanish)
  6. JORGE MUJICA U. Conspiración imaginada en la Patagonia: ¿es el Plan Andinia una real amenaza? Esbozo de una respuesta histórica 8spanish)
  7. Rein, Raanan; Davidi, Efraim (2010). "Exile of the World". Jewish Social Studies. 16 (3): 4. doi:10.2979/jewisocistud.16.3.1. Timerman stressed that the issue of his Judaism came up repeatedly during every interrogation, which included questions about Israeli schemes to send military forces to Argentina in order to implement the 'Andinia Plan', an apocryphal Zionist conspiracy to occupy a broad section of the Patagonian provinces in southern Argentina and establish a second Jewish state there.
  8. Timerman 1981, pp. 29-30.
  9. Timerman 1981, pp. 73-74.
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