Former VP candidate, congressman, and football star Jack Kemp, decried Hugo Chavez's apparent path toward open Jew—hatred. JTA reports:

Jack Kemp, prominent in promoting U.S.—Venezuelan commercial ties, says Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is 'fanning the flames of anti—Semitism.'

'Please tell President Chavez, for me, that his statements are further fanning the flames of hatred and anti—Semitism,' the onetime Republican U.S. senator and vice—presidential candidate wrote recently in a private letter to Bernardo Alvarez, Venezuela's ambassador to Washington. Kemp cited Chavez's recent comparison of Israel to Nazi Germany and his support for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president who has denied the Holocaust and called for Israel's destruction.

As a founder of Empower America, a non—profit organization that promotes free—market policies, Kemp has traveled to Venezuela to promote trade.

Ed Lasky   10 07 06