Peru's President Sparks Outrage with Anti-Semitic Remarks

0:00It's April 30th. This is Global News Today, driven by AI tracking the world in real time. Peru's interim president, Jose Maria Balkazar, sparked outrage this week by claiming Jews pushed Germany into the Second World War through control of, trade, banking, and usually. He made the remarks during a speech at the Lima Chamber of Commerce's 138th anniversary event, drawing from a book by Spanish, philosopher Antonio Escohotato. The Israeli and German embassies fired back hard in a joint statement, calling the idea absurd and a total distortion of history. They pointed out that Adolf Hitler and the Nazis kicked off the war by invading Poland in 1939, leading to the Holocaust, where six. Million Jews were murdered in concentration camps. Balkazar, a former lawmaker and retired judge who took office on February 18th after his predecessor got ousted in the scandal, later had the presidential office issue a statement. It said he regrets any wrong impression about the Jewish people and reaffirmed Peru's

1:03stance, blaming Nazi fanaticism for the war and genocide. This isn't his first brush with controversy. Back in 2023, he argued early sexual relations could benefit young women psychologically if no violence was involved. And in 2022, Peru's then prime minister praised Nazi road building, drawing similar rebukes from those same embassies before apologizing. These slip-ups highlight a pattern in Peruvian politics where old tropes resurface. But the quick pushback shows global watchdogs aren't letting it, sligh unchecked.