It\u2019s been just over a week since U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the military capture and trial of Venezuelan dictator Nicol\u00e1s Maduro and his wife. The stunning late-night operation on Jan. 3 was welcome news to millions of Venezuelans who have fled their home country over the last two decades, leaving it to descend into corruption and impoverishment, despite controlling the biggest oil reserves on the planet.<\/p>\n
Among the estimated eight million Venezeulans who left, tens of thousands are Jewish. They faced additional pressure to escape: the regime was strongly anti-Israel, supporting Iran and Hezbollah, which led to the harassment of the local Jewish community. It\u2019s a stance first adopted by Maduro\u2019s predecessor, the late former president Hugo Chavez, in 2006.<\/p>\n
While Maduro now faces drug and racketeering charges in New York City, the uncertainty about what happens next has kept Venezuelans confined to their homes, with schools temporarily closed and paramilitary forces patrolling the streets. Some political prisoners are being released, in a gesture of goodwill by Maduro\u2019s replacement, while President Trump is vowing to bring billions in investment to revamp Venezuela\u2019s oil production. While some Venezuelans say they have great hope now that Maduro is gone, others think restoring democracy is still a long way off.<\/p>\n
On today\u2019s episode of The CJN\u2019s flagship North Star podcast, we hear reaction and analysis from three Venezuelan Jews who have made their homes in Canada. Jonathan Rosemberg Kort and Rebecca Sarfatti join from Toronto, while Daniel Topel joins from Ladner, B.C., south of Vancouver.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Transcript<\/p>\n
Ellin Bessner: The sound of Venezuelans living in Canada singing their native country\u2019s patriotic songs this past week during rallies in Montreal to welcome the news that American troops captured dictator Nicolas Maduro and his wife on January 3rd in a series of early morning raids in Caracas, where he was bundled onto a waiting U.S. warship, then flown to New York City to face drug and racketeering charges.<\/p>\n
The US President, Donald Trump, says America will be running Venezuela for a while, while he tries to convince oil companies to invest billions to reboot Venezuela\u2019s oil patch. But there\u2019s so much uncertainty with Maduro gone. His deputies are still in power. Paramilitaries were seen roaming the streets, rounding up journalists and foreigners. And it\u2019s unclear whether Trump\u2019s operation was even legal under international law.<\/p>\n
But what happened brought some hope for the country\u2019s 30 million people, and especially to the 8 million more Venezuelans who fled their country since Maduro took power, and before him, Hugo Chavez, who turned the once flourishing democratic Latin American powerhouse into a dictatorship, with an estimated 6,000 people murdered, double that in jail as political prisoners, and starvation. Along with that came the far-left regime\u2019s total vilification of Israel and the warm embrace of Iran and Hezbollah, and the resulting anti-Semitic targeting of Venezuela\u2019s once-thriving Jewish community, which at one time numbered about 30,000 Jews, but has shrunk to a rump 90% have left for other neighboring countries, Florida, Israel, and Canada, which is where Jewish Venezuelan expats have been glued to their phones and TV, reading WhatsApp updates from their family and friends still back home, \u00a0and trying to predict whether what happened was strictly a business deal for the US to seize Venezuelan oil, or the start of the road back to democracy, which they\u2019ve been longing for over 25 years.<\/p>\n
Daniel Topel: We\u2019re seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. I think there\u2019s hope. We\u2019re definitely, it feels like there\u2019s, we\u2019re closer to a democracy than we were on t December 31st, and we will see what happens.<\/p>\n
Ellin Bessner: I\u2019m Ellin Bessner, and this is what Jewish Canada sounds like for Monday, January 12th, 2026. Welcome to Northstar, the flagship podcast of The Canadian Jewish News, and made possible thanks to the generous support of the Ira Gluskin and Maxine Granovsky Gluskin Charitable Foundation.<\/p>\n
Canada closed its embassy in Venezuela 7 years ago in 2019 due to grave human rights abuses by the Maduro regime. Canada has never recognized him as leader and has economic sanctions placed on over 140 people connected to his government.<\/p>\n
Our guests on today\u2019s show have deep roots in Venezuela.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Sarfatti\u2019s been in Canada the longest. She\u2019s a Toronto event planner. Her grandfather founded Venezuela\u2019s main Jewish political advocacy group.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Rosemberg Kort came next to Toronto. He also comes from a prominent Caracas family, descendants of a Holocaust survivor from Austria who found safe haven. One of his late grandfather\u2019s murals is in the B\u2019nai B\u2019rith headquarters in Caracas. Jonathan fled Venezuela when his business partner was murdered. He\u2019s a business transformation coach. His new book just came out, outlining his corporate coaching philosophy.<\/p>\n
Daniel Topel is the newest arrival on Canadian soil, but he actually left Venezuela in 2006, stopping in Israel first, then to Canada in 2014. He\u2019s an aquaculture specialist. He works on the B.C. coast. He lives in Ladner, a fishing village in Delta, south of Vancouver.<\/p>\n
Maybe we could start off by if you could explain to our listeners a little bit about how you ended up here in Canada and when you left and why you left? Anyone can start.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Sarfatti: Well, I believe I\u2019m the longest standing Venezuelan here. I arrived in 2001. Not particularly fleeing anything other than looking for opportunities at that point in time, even though Chavez was already in power and it started to feel uncomfortable, but in general, not particularly so specific to Jews. But so I\u2019ve been here almost 26 years.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Rosemberg Kort: I came in 2009 and I did come as a result of a difficult situation in Venezuela. One of my business partners was in an armed robbery and he was killed. So I had recently gotten married. So my wife, Adriana, and I decided to sell everything we owned and we moved here.\u00a0 It was untenable, the situation by then.<\/p>\n
Ellin Bessner: And your family had a candy business or something? I\u2019m not sure if I have.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Rosemberg Kort: We were in the Schmatta business. My family was in the Schmatta business, but I\u2019ve done many other things since. So it\u2019s been an interesting journey for sure. And I actually, I came to Canada in \u201895 for boarding school. I did boarding school here in Toronto, and then I did my undergrad at McGill. And then I went back to Venezuela and spent about 8 years there.<\/p>\n
Ellin Bessner And Daniel, tell us how you got out of Venezuela.<\/p>\n
Daniel Topel I did in 2006, and I lived in Israel till 2014 when I came, we came. My wife, my son, who was born in Israel. At the time he was two, we went to Vancouver Island, to Nanaimo. So yeah, I\u2019ve been here since 2014.<\/p>\n
Ellin Bessner And Rebecca, you\u2019ve been very involved in raising medical supplies for doctors back home. Tell us a little bit about what you\u2019ve been doing for Venezuela as an activist here in Canada.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Sarfatti When I arrived in 2001, since day one, I\u2019ve been an activist for democracy in Venezuela. In 2014, I believe, I got together with different leaders from different provinces. And we said, \u201cYou know what, we need to have like a legal entity to work with, to continue with lobbying and everything.\u201d One of those items was the medical supplies. And what started as, you know, sending one box per time, ended being sending a container, organizing bigger collections of medication. My basement at my house was packed of whatever medical item you can picture. I got those from Canadian doctors. One time I had a limb at home, like a leg, for example.<\/p>\n
Ellin Bessner Like a prosthetic? \u00a0<\/p>\n
Rebecca Sarfatti: like a prosthetic!<\/p>\n
Ellin Bessner: Now, I had you together because the stunning news that happened with Donald Trump moving Maduro and his wife to face racketeering and narcotics charges. Can you tell us what your reaction was when you saw this news?<\/p>\n
Rebecca Sarfatti We\u2019ve been in an emotional roller coaster since Friday, Saturday. We\u2019ve been in a, really, the only way to describe this is emotional roller coaster because of course, your first impression, like I was awake at 2:00 in the morning and I was going to bed and of a sudden my phone started blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, those WhatsApp groups. My cousin, \u201cWhat is happening in Caracas?\u201d See, oh, it\u2019s Friday, might be fireworks or whatever. She said, \u201cNo, there\u2019s planes\u201d.<\/p>\n
So immediately I went to X to see if we could find something. All those pictures, all those videos, live, showing you, it looked like Gaza, to be honest. It looked like war. So at that moment, I said, what is this? Because for me, it wasn\u2019t as clear who was it. I said, \u201cOkay, it could be a coup, it could be something else, it could be, I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
So we waited till around 4 o\u2019clock when President Trump finally said, \u201cOkay, it was us, sorry.\u201d So it has been like a roller coaster. And uncertainty, as I said, is the word of the week.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Rosemberg Kort: Well, I got pictures from friends opening bottles of champagne. I think the first reaction was joy. And I think the reason why there was joy at first It\u2019s because this is a huge catalyst for the Venezuelan people. Think about it. For 26 years, people have been trying to create an opposition to this government unsuccessfully. There hasn\u2019t been checks and balances. So suddenly you see\u2026 the head of the government being pulled away in a helicopter, right? And he looks, I mean, for those of us who\u2019ve ever watched the movie, we\u2019re like, \u201cHey, they took away the bad guy, right?\u201d<\/p>\n
So, the initial reaction, at least for me, was, unadulterated joy. I was like, \u201cOkay, so this is the beginning of the end of this regime, and there\u2019s going to be a change.\u201d Of course, that slowly started changing once we saw the press conference, and we saw the news release, and we saw.<\/p>\n
There were, I think there were, two very telling things in that moment that kind of changed the mood, at least for me. One of them was Trump saying \u201cWe are now running the country,\u201d which it was really hard to understand what he meant by that. And at no point did he explain what that meant or how they were doing that. So that was a big question mark for me. And that\u2019s when the uncertainty, as Rebecca was saying, started to kick in.<\/p>\n
And the second thing is when he kind of snubbed gently Maria Corina Machado, the leader of the opposition. And that was also kind of a little bit surprising. And, after the press conference, that joy that I had felt slowly started to dwindle away.<\/p>\n
Ellin Bessner Let\u2019s hear from Daniel, when you got, your phone started blowing up too, I guess?<\/p>\n
Daniel Topel No, my wife woke me up and I told her, really, honestly, I told her that this is AI. \u00a0Don\u2019t [believe it], you know, don\u2019t, at first. That was my first, because I couldn\u2019t believe it. We have a big group of the family and the thing started, it was the reality. I was very excited, yes, very surprised and I felt really happy for the help of the United States doing this and to see they took Maduro. I wish they could have taken everybody, but it\u2019s impossible.<\/p>\n
But still, there\u2019s a lot of blackout in the news. Nobody really knows anything. And it\u2019s all, how do you say? Elujoabraciones.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Rosemberg Kort: Speculation.<\/p>\n
Daniel Topel: Like, it\u2019s all speculation. Anything, whatever we can say, it\u2019s speculations. I believe we\u2019re seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. I think there\u2019s hope. We\u2019re definitely, it feels like there\u2019s, we\u2019re closer to a democracy than we were on the December 31st. And we will see what happens.<\/p>\n
Ellin Bessner So back to what happens now? \u00a0We\u2019re having you because you have connections to the Jewish community. Tell us a bit of what is left there. What do we know about the community there?<\/p>\n
Jonathan Rosemberg Kort So first, let\u2019s kind of set it in context. There\u2019s about 8 million Venezuelans who have left the country as a result of this government. And there\u2019s about 30 million Venezuelans, so call it a third of the population has left. It\u2019s a pretty significant and material number.<\/p>\n
As it relates to the Jewish population, I think at its height, the Jewish community was close to 30,000 people. We don\u2019t have the exact numbers. And now it\u2019s somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000. That\u2019s kind of what\u2019s left.<\/p>\n
And what we\u2019re hearing is that, of course, there\u2019s a lot of fear because the community is so small and because it doesn\u2019t have the same resources that it used to have, it\u2019s much harder to make sure that the community is integrated and protected and cared for. So initiatives like this one, bringing awareness to it, Ellin, which is what you\u2019re doing with this podcast and what you\u2019re reporting on, is important.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s important that people know that there\u2019s a, I would call it a thriving Jewish community. There\u2019s a Jewish school, there\u2019s a Jewish club. \u00a0I was just at the JCC recently here in Toronto and we have our own JCC, which is a beautiful place. So I think there\u2019s a lot of fear right now in terms of what this is going to look like.<\/p>\n
Daniel Topel: Yeah, I agree.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Sarfatti And I want to stress out maybe to put people who don\u2019t know the Jewish history in Venezuela in context. Before Chavez, Venezuelans were part of the social life of the country. We had politicians, prominent people.<\/p>\n
Ellin Bessner Jewish Venezuelans?<\/p>\n
Rebecca Sarfatti Jewish Venezuelans. They were part of what we were, we are. Jewish Venezuelan felt or feel, I\u2019m pretty sure we still feel, like Venezuelans by heart. Like my family arrived at the end of the 1800s to Venezuela. There\u2019s people who consider themselves Venezuelan who came 100 years later. So, the family\u2026<\/p>\n
Ellin Bessner Right, like Jonathan\u2019s family. I think you were Holocaust survivors, were you not?<\/p>\n
Jonathan Rosemberg Kort So, my family went from Austria. Well, my grandfather was in Bulgaria, actually, and he got a telegram saying, you can\u2019t come back, right? And once they arrived in Caracas, you know, they were able to build a thriving life there. Jews were very much welcome. There\u2019s lots of stories about boats that, you know, got denied entry, many other other places, and they were welcomed in Venezuela. So it was a safe haven for people who were escaping the Holocaust.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Sarfatti Definitely.<\/p>\n
Ellin Bessner Daniel, how did your family get to Venezuela?<\/p>\n
Daniel Topel My grandfather arrived from Poland in \u201833 or \u201834 to the port of La Guaira. And on my mother\u2019s side, they were already there, you know, since the Jews that were expelled from Spain during the Inquisition. And they ran from Amsterdam, Holland, then Curacao and Curacao to Venezuela.<\/p>\n
Ellin Bessner Wow.<\/p>\n
Daniel Topel So I probably like Rebecca. Yes. I never felt different for being Jewish and being Venezuela. Like for me it was I\u2019m Venezuelan. I\u2019m a Venezuelan Jew or Jew or Jewish Venezuelan, however you want to interchange those two.<\/p>\n
Ellin Bessner When did things change for you and for your family?<\/p>\n
Daniel Topel So, okay, so Chavez got elected in 98. In 99, he changed the constitution. So that\u2019s one of the biggest problem there.<\/p>\n
I did start to see antisemitism, like feel it. You could feel it when, people start leaving, not only Jews, but for example, in 2004, somebody screamed at me, a random person, a slur, because I was wearing a kippah when I was leaving the synagogue at night. So somebody, you know, screamed something really nasty at me, you know, and you could feel it, you could see, and then, you know, their ideology, this regime;s ideology is paired with the anti-Zionism. They tainted with anti-Zionism, anti-Israel, but at the end, we know where all this takes. It all ends in Jew hatred.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Sarfatti And then they closed the Israel embassy. That\u2019s another important episode, even though it might not necessarily relate to being Jewish, but yes, it\u2019s part of us.<\/p>\n
Daniel Topel Mhm. Chavez said something, you know, Maldigo. Chavez then the State of Israel.<\/p>\n
[Sound of Hugo Chavez speech]<\/p>\n
Jonathan Rosemberg Kort Ellin, I think it\u2019s important to correctly represent the fact that Jews and Muslims and Christians and people were living in relative peace in Venezuela. I think what occurred is that when Chavez came into power as a demagogue, he started creating this difference between us and them. And that started on the social strata. Started, well, if you have money, then it\u2019s a problem. And that\u2019s kind of how it started.<\/p>\n
And then it devolved into many different things. And of course, the Jews being the Jews, we became, we\u2019re a visible minority and that became a problem.<\/p>\n
But now from the Venezuelan perspective, what I would say is that, considering the fact that Iran, Russia, and Cuba have been<\/p>\n
Ellin Bessner: And China.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Rosemberg Kort: and China, yes. They are the ones who have interests and they\u2019re the ones that are running the country. One of the things that I say to people who ask me, how do I feel about this? I often say, \u201cWell, my values are much more aligned with the United States than they are with the countries that have been running the country, that have been immersed in the politics.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0So regardless of what happens, it seems as if this is a step in the right direction. Now, is it going to suddenly solve all the problems? It\u2019s unlikely, but I think that\u2019s a, it\u2019s a really positive, there\u2019s a positive movement here.<\/p>\n
Ellin Bessner Okay, but let\u2019s talk about this new vice president. Didn\u2019t she mention that this is all like a Zionist plot or something? I heard that sort of slur.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Sarfatti Probably.<\/p>\n
[Sound of Delcy Rodriguez speaking]<\/p>\n
Daniel Topel Like, it doesn\u2019t surprise she says something like that, because, well, it\u2019s, you know, it\u2019s this ideology, it\u2019s married to the anti-Zionist, but she also has to perform for her crowd, right? So she has to say something to make her people say, because what they\u2019re saying is that she traded, she\u2019s the traitor of Maduro. She gave Maduro. That\u2019s the word. They gave up Maduro and now, you know, it\u2019s like hungry dogs.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Rosemberg Kort It was negotiated. Exactly. It was a negotiated export.<\/p>\n
Ellin Bessner Guys, what does this mean for the Jewish community now? I heard that they\u2019re staying quiet, they\u2019re being told to not give interviews, to stay, the school was closed because there\u2019s 600 kids that have to stay home, because they want to keep the community out of trouble and stay safe. Is that what you\u2019re hearing?<\/p>\n
Rebecca Sarfatti I believe not only the Jewish community, there\u2019s a lot of people who are, for example, the university, it\u2019s moved it opening date for two weeks. So I mean, it\u2019s every Venezuelan are in that state of uncertainty and they\u2019re just keeping calm, keeping it quiet. Because if you\u2019re a person as a reporter or somebody from the press, you\u2019re being in jail this week. So of course we are more careful and I believe our state of being more careful is just because the war is going on and this a lot. It\u2019s like being careful here these days, to be honest.<\/p>\n
So on top of it, all this is coming. So everybody\u2019s trying to keep safe and with provisions and avoid what you don\u2019t need to do or avoid to be too out loud, just to keep your family safe. I spoke with my family and they say, \u201cOkay, what\u2019s going on? We don\u2019t know.\u201d And if you\u2019re able to stay home, you will stay home.<\/p>\n
Ellin Bessner How many people on this call, you all have family back in Venezuela, close family? Can you say or do not want to talk about it because of safety reasons?<\/p>\n
Daniel Topel My dad is there in Venezuela, and I have lots of cousins still.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Rosemberg Kort My in-laws live there, and thankfully they were visiting us, so they\u2019re here right now. They\u2019re actually here in my house.<\/p>\n
I just wanted to add something brief to Rebecca\u2019s point around what\u2019s happening in Venezuela right now, Ellin, because I think it\u2019s important to paint a picture. So the government made a call out to the colectivos, which are like paramilitary, to be in the streets. So these are people who are on motorcycles and they\u2019re carrying long guns and, you know. So, and part of the intention behind that is to make sure that they keep people in their homes. Now, there are reports, and you can fact check this later, but there are reports that people are being stopped by the colectivos and they\u2019re being asked to unlock their phones to see exactly what kind of information they\u2019re sharing. So, it is a state of terror that people are in right now, a state of shock and terror.<\/p>\n
Ellin Bessner Sorry, didn\u2019t they go into the Jewish community centre years ago and raid it?<\/p>\n
Daniel Topel It was years ago, yes. Well, yeah, that\u2019s a\u2026<\/p>\n
Jonathan Rosemberg Kort And the synagogues, the synagogues, they desecrated several synagogues too. Yeah. So, there is, because there\u2019s an anti-Zionist rhetoric, Yes, if people are looking for a place, of course, there\u2019s a heightened danger for the Jewish community, especially because it\u2019s so small now.<\/p>\n
Ellin Bessner Finally, what do you know about people who have been saying, analysts have been saying that, you know, it\u2019s a hub, it was a hub for Iranian influence, for Iranian trade of drugs, and then Hezbollah support. So maybe this is good for Israel?<\/p>\n
Jonathan Rosemberg Kort I have a friend of mine who said to me, \u201cAs a Venezuelan Jew, Trump has been incredible for me because of, some of the decisions, military decisions that he\u2019s made\u201d. Now, I\u2019m not sure I would agree with him. I think there\u2019s a, listen, Ellin, I think the problem here is that there\u2019s so much complexity here. We\u2019re looking for clean answers and there are no clean answers. And so I think that\u2019s really important to keep in mind.<\/p>\n
Daniel Topel That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Sarfatti I want to bring to your attention that in the case of the Hezbollah, Hamas, and so on, one of the biggest problems besides financing and cleaning money is that during this 20-something years, Hamas or Hezbollah or whatever, they\u2019ve been given Venezuelan passports. So that\u2019s a very important security matter that we need to take in consideration. And that\u2019s one point.<\/p>\n
And the other point is that I, of course, I\u2019m super happy that they took Maduro. He\u2019s facing a specific case in court. I don\u2019t want it to stay there. I need him to go to the International [Criminal] Court for human rights violations.<\/p>\n
Drug dealing? Anybody can go for drug dealing!<\/p>\n
Ellin Bessner : So in The Hague and Scheveningen and stay there until he dies for prison, right?<\/p>\n
Rebecca Sarfatti I\u2019m going to say, \u201cYes, that\u2019s enough for me?\u201d.No, because they could give him five years. They could give him 10 years. That, for me is not enough. I need to see him in The Hague. I have to see him there, dressed in orange, but over there. That\u2019s one thing.<\/p>\n
\u00a0The other thing is that the whole Trump situation, It\u2019s bothering me, to be honest. I know he was the one who did it and we\u2019re happy and thank you so much. But what has happened after, it\u2019s scary and very complex, very complex. Like I\u2019m still processing when Trump said, \u201cI am the one who\u2019s ruling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ellin Bessner The Nobel Peace Prize winner and the election winner, not being put in power, why did they leave the same regime there?<\/p>\n
Daniel Topel The conditions are not given to for her to come back. She cannot come back yet.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Sarfatti I agree with that, but we don\u2019t, we are not as Venezuelans, we cannot allow.<\/p>\n
Daniel Topel And she\u2019s not the president either.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Sarfatti Of course she\u2019s not. We cannot allow to push 2024 under the carpet. Are we going to keep pushing for 2024 results as Venezuelans or are we going to take different paths? Like, we as Venezuelans, we are the ones who may have to make the decision or which path we want to take. And at this point, in that matter, we are divided, unfortunately, because there\u2019s people who say \u201cTrump is the best thing in the world, and he\u2019s the saviour\u201d, and there\u2019s people like me that think politics should not be done that way.<\/p>\n
Ellin Bessner Can you all go vote now or no?<\/p>\n
Rebecca Sarfatti But first of all, if we\u2019re here, there\u2019s no consulate.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Rosemberg Kort So we can\u2019t vote. No.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Sarfatti I voted since Day One. I\u2019m in Canada. I actually organized the volunteering, people, for everybody to vote. for 20 \u00a0years about till\u00a0 2018 when they closed the consulate. So of course we want to vote. Venezuelans are voters. We are democratic people. That\u2019s what we\u2019ve been asking for so long.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Rosemberg Kort You would expect from the leader of the free world is that this would be a political and social change on top of a financial transaction. What we\u2019re seeing right now is purely a financial transaction based on the signals that we\u2019re getting. And again, we don\u2019t know enough about what\u2019s going on. This is a purely a financial transaction. It\u2019s basically, you know, you could very well interpret this as \u201cI have put the president of the country in jail and holding this person hostage. So you give me the oil and then you use the money that I pay you in order to buy US products\u201d, which is troublesome to say the least.<\/p>\n
So it\u2019s very problematic. This is a unique opportunity for tremendous change, not only in Venezuela, but in the entire Latin American region. And it\u2019s kind of being wasted away, mainly by the way in which things are being communicated.<\/p>\n
Daniel Topel: \u00a0So yeah, definitely. I do think that Trump is not the best communicator. He has good ideas. He helped a lot. He helped the war with the Hamas. He was very useful. Baruch Hashem, Baruch Trump. Okay, I\u2019m going to say it that way. Thanks to him, we got the hostages back, only one left. He did a great job.<\/p>\n
I think he\u2019s not the best communicator for sure.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not happy to read what he wrote about the billions of dollars in oil that he\u2019s going to, but let\u2019s remember that also when Chavez nationalized the, took over power of Pedevesa of Venezuelan oil. He\u2019s owing money to Conoco, for example, to the American oil companies. There\u2019s no point about that. There\u2019s no favorites for free, right?<\/p>\n
Jonathan Rosemberg Kort : I\u2019m not sure that\u2019s right. So anyway, we\u2019re now getting deep into history and politics.<\/p>\n
Daniel Topel I forgot to mention also, you know, the greed from Iran and all the countries for our minerals. I wanted also to say about the all the uranium or the uranium that the Iranians have for the nuclear bombs. It\u2019s coming from Venezuela. So Venezuela is not, it\u2019s not that simple the situation. It\u2019s not about oil. It\u2019s only oil. It\u2019s the resources and Venezuela is like the link between narco traffic from the region, you know, from Colombia, Ecuador, And it\u2019s the link between that, those minerals, rare earth\u2013 they\u2019re used for microprocessors and for all kind of devices, technology devices, they\u2019re well needed.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Sarfatti And I, as a Venezuelan, that have been fighting from my corner of the world for democracy, cannot stand the idea that we are not part of the discussion. If without us involved and without freeing the political prisoners, there\u2019s nothing.<\/p>\n
Ellin Bessner: \u00a0So I want to know what the Jewish community in Venezuela needs from us. Now that, I mean, do they need stockpiles, like you used to send? Do they need anything?<\/p>\n
Jonathan Rosemberg Kort: There are Jews in Venezuela who are suffering as a result of the current situation and for people to stay informed and to know what is happening. And there will be, I\u2019m sure, many, many ways to help in the future. I think it\u2019s unclear right now what exactly it is that the community is needing. And I\u2019m pretty confident that the community will need things because I suspect this will impact the entry of products, and we\u2019ve experienced this before, many times.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Sarfatti I believe the community, thank God, our community has always been extremely organized as a community. We work together with the two sides, the Ashkenaz and the Sepharat. We have the schools, we have the community centre, there\u2019s plenty of synagogues. They all work together. So yes, of course, they might have needs in the coming times. Our schools are amazing, our synagogues are amazing, but they are suffering probably for funding to maintain them. Till now, we have had the support of ourselves in Miami and for ourselves in Toronto, wherever we are. For example, my mom received medication from the community, from the community, from Yahat, basically. So they get medication from Yahat.<\/p>\n
Ellin Bessner Wait your mother\u2019s right there? And she\u2019s listening? Put her on!<\/p>\n
Rebecca Sarfatti Hello. She\u2019s here. She actually managed to leave a month ago. Yeah, she is. She\u2019s not moving per se, but we don\u2019t know. She\u2019s supposed to be leaving in March, but we don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n
Daniel Topel I want to say hi.<\/p>\n
Mother: I am proud of my young people. I\u2019m proud of my daughter and Daniel and Jonathan. Jonathan.<\/p>\n
Daniel Topel Thank you. Thank you. Rebecca is doing a great job.<\/p>\n
Ellin Bessner Are you going to stay in Canada now? You\u2019re going to go stay permanently.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Sarfatti Elderly stay behind, probably.<\/p>\n
Daniel Topel Yeah, that\u2019s the sad part. So you ask if the Jewish community should leave. I think that\u2019s a decision, a very personal decision to each family and to each person. The fact that already, 2\/3 of it left or even more tells you something. It\u2019s very sad, the grandmothers that have to live away from their grandchildren, for example, my Mom.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Sarfatti\u00a0 God bless WhatsApp.<\/p>\n
Daniel Topel Yeah, those are the, Zoom Savtot, yeah, the, you know, the WhatsApp savtot. (Hebrew word for grandparents) \u00a0So that\u2019s a really, it\u2019s a tragedy, tragedy for the Jewish community and the rest of Venezuelans, everybody. And yes, it\u2019s very hard to go back even for a visit because you don\u2019t have the passport to go inside, to arrive in Venezuela. You need your passport.<\/p>\n
Ellin Bessner Rebecca, when was the last time you went home?<\/p>\n
Rebecca Sarfatti 16 years ago, because usually she comes. And I am double national because I was born actually in Curacao, but I\u2019m Dutch and I\u2019m Venezuelan. And I denied myself my right to have a passport because I didn\u2019t want to go and sponsor the government. I didn\u2019t want to do it and pay for it. I like, I knew how the process was, so I didn\u2019t want to do it.<\/p>\n
Daniel Topel The last time I was in Venezuela was 2012. I went there specifically to vote. Those were the last elections when Chavez was alive, the presidential elections that the opposition won, but Chavez took power and we don\u2019t really know what really happened.<\/p>\n
Ellin Bessner I want to thank you for being with us on The Canadian Jewish News, explaining to us this really important, world-changing story. And we\u2019ll be talking to you again, I hope, with only good news.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Sarfatti: Oh, please. I really enjoyed it.<\/p>\n
Ellin Bessner: And bye, Mami<\/p>\n
Daniel Topel; Thank you.<\/p>\n
Ellin Bessner :And that\u2019s what Jewish Canada sounded like for this episode of North Star, brought to you by the Ira Gluskin and Maxine Granovsky Gluskin Charitable Foundation.<\/p>\n
Special thanks to Sara Bandel at the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, Jodi Block at JIAS, the Jewish Immigrant Aid Service of Toronto, and to Grace Zweig, The CJN\u2019s longtime sales manager who was born in Caracas. They all helped us to find today\u2019s guests.<\/p>\n
You can find out more about Venezuela\u2019s Jewish community at the links in our show notes and find a link to Jonathan Rosemberg Kort\u2019s new book.<\/p>\n
And you can watch the full video on our CJN YouTube channel.<\/p>\n
Our show was produced by Zachary Judah Kauffman, Michael Fraiman\u2019s the executive producer, Bret Higgins wrote the music, and Alicia Richler is The CJN\u2019s editorial director. Thanks for listening.<\/p>\n
Show Notes<\/p>\n
Related stories<\/p>\n
Learn more about Jonathan Rosemberg Kort\u2019s new book A Guide to Thriving,<\/a> published in November 2025.Read how Irwin Cotler and two other experts concluded that Venezuela was committing crimes against humanity in 2018, in The CJN archives<\/a>.How Maduro\u2019s predecessor, president Hugo Chavez, embraced Jew-hatred and hatred for Israel, in The CJN archives<\/a> (2013).Montreal Rabbi Adam Scheier feared for the safety of Caracas\u2019s Jews after a visit to the country in 2009, in The CJN<\/a>.<\/p>\n Credits:<\/p>\n Host and writer: Ellin Bessner [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)Music: Bret Higgins<\/a><\/p>\n Support our show<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been just over a week since U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the military capture and trial of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,60,799,44,81986,98418,20147],"class_list":{"0":"post-404244","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-featured","11":"tag-latin-america","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-nicolas-maduro","14":"tag-north-star","15":"tag-venezuela"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}