Spain’s leading national newspaper, El País, has apologised after it published an article that claimed the senior New York judge overseeing the proceedings against Venezuelan president Nicholas Maduro is impartial “despite” his Jewishness.
In an article published earlier this week, an article in the popular daily paper stated that Alvin Hellerstein, a 92-year-old district judge and Orthodox Jew, has throughout his career “issued well-reasoned rulings and strived to remain impartial despite being a prominent member of the Jewish community”.
The article, authored by Jesús Sérvulo González, remained online in Spanish and English for several hours before the sentence was amended.
The new version read: “Throughout his career, he has issued well-reasoned rulings and has a reputation for impartiality. He has written that the way in which a judge decides a case should not depend on his religious education, religious identity or religious values.”
Highlighting the original passage on social media, former Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum labelled it “disgusting antisemitism”.
A spokesperson for the European Jewish Congress added: “Jewish identity is not a conflict of interest.
"Such language reinforces bias and has real consequences for how Jews are perceived in public life.”
Speaking to Haaretz on Wednesday, El País’ foreign desk chief, Guillermo Altares, said the outlet is “deeply sorry for its mistake” and that the characterisation of Hellerstein was done without malice.
“Neither Jesús [Sérvulo González] nor El País are antisemitic, it was a mistake that we corrected when we saw it," Altares said. "Antisemitism is a real problem and El País is sensitive to [the issue]," he added.
Hellerstein, who was appointed to the federal court in 1998 by former US President Bill Clinton, continues to hear major criminal and terrorism-related national security cases.
Maduro was seized by US special forces on January 3 along with his wife, Cilia Flores, from their Caracas compound, which was described as “a fortress” by US President Trump.
The couple have both pleaded not guilty to charges of narco-terrorism, drug trafficking and weapons offences. Their hearing will take place on March 17, before eventually moving into the pre-trial phase.
Because of the complexity of the charges and the extensive pre-trial proceedings, the actual jury trial will likely only begin towards the end of the year.
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