The World Jewish Congress today voiced its concern about the recent official registration in Argentina of a neo-Nazi party, Bandera Vecinal, a status that allows the party to compete in the 2015 presidential elections. �This ugly party espouses the ideology and revels in the trappings of the Hitler regime, and it should be banned, shunned and isolated, not accepted into politics,� said World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder.

Claudio Epelman, Executive Director of the Latin American Jewish Congress, the Argentine-based arm of WJC, said that the organization views with great concern the official approval received by Bandera Vecinal, which translates to �Local Flag� in English. The party�s leader, Alejandro Biondini, has publicly and repeatedly praised Adolf Hitler and Nazism and is frequently pictured giving the Nazi salute surrounded by swastikas, Epelman said.

�It is troubling that an openly neo-Nazi party can arise in this country. It�s inconsistent with the culture of acceptance and diversity among the Argentine people, whose country served as refuge for victims of the Nazi regime, a regime Biondini reveres,” Epelman said. �We will monitor the activities and discourse of Biondini�s party and will denounce any hate speech and incitement of violence against any minority groups in our country.�

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)