Fidel Castro Slams Israel for ‘Palestinian Holocaust’ in Gaza
Image by getty images
Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro described Israel’s offensive in Gaza as a “new, repugnant form of fascism.”
Castro made his comments in a column published Tuesday in the Granma newspaper, the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party, titled “Palestinian Holocaust in Gaza. ”
“Why does the government of this country (Israel) think that the world will be impervious to this macabre genocide that is being committed today against the Palestinian people?” Castro wrote.
Castro, 87, ruled Cuba from 1959 until 2006, when he handed over power to his brother Raul. Cuba broke diplomatic relations with Israel in 1973 after the Yom Kippur War.
In a more conciliatory moment, in 2010, Castro told Atlantic writer Jeffrey Goldberg that Israel “without a doubt” has a right to exist.
In that interview, Castro, according to Goldberg, expressed “great sympathy for persecuted Jews throughout history” and expressed admiration for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s father, Ben-Zion, who Goldberg described as “the world’s foremost historian of the Spanish Inquisition, and a hard-line Likudnik.”
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
