Brazilian Jewish organization apologizes for anti-Palestinian post on social media

The Rio Jewish federation apologizes for a Facebook post which called on the Jewish community to root against a Chilean soccer team founded by Palestinians slated to play against Brazil’s most popular team.

The federation’s official Facebook profile with nearly 30,000 followers on Wednesday displayed the flags of the Flamengo and Palestino teams, and the question “Who are you going to root for today?” The post was removed shortly afterwards.

“It was produced by one of our team members with personal purposes and was intended for a closed group of friends. It was published accidentally on our page. We apologize for the mistake,” the federation wrote in an online message on Thursday after Rio’s largest newspaper O Globo reported the incident.

“The federation does not encourage this type of behavior and has as one of its premises coexistence with our Palestinian cousins,” Jewish federation President Herry Rosenberg was quoted as telling the newspaper’s Friday edition.

— JTA