El Pais publishes article claiming Maduro trial judge impartial ‘despite being Jewish’

Spain’s daily national newspaper El Pais has come under fire for publishing claims that Senior US Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who will preside over the trial of former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro is highly regarded “despite being a recognized member of the Jewish community.”

Hellerstein is a a 92-year-old Orthodox Jewish judge appointed to the federal court in 1998 by former US President Bill Clinton. He continues to hear major criminal, terrorism-related and national security cases.

In highly dramatic scenes televised around the world, jubilant Venezuelans took to the streets to celebrate after Maduro, known for his anti-Israeli and anti-Zionist rhetoric, was seized on Saturday 3 January alongside his wife Cilia Flore from their Caracas compound, in a daring raid by the US military on the orders of US President Donald Trump.

With US attorney general Pam Bondi claiming Maduro was brought to the US to “face justice”, media outlets captured images of him, handcuffed, stepping off a helicopter in New York City on Monday morning, surrounded by armed US federal agents.

He has been charged with offences, including drug trafficking, government corruption, and crimes linked to terrorism.

US media outlet Politico has said that Hellerstein was assigned the Maduro case “because he was assigned to an indictment of a Maduro co-defendant back in 2011, almost a decade and a half ago.”

The original description in Tuesday’s edition of El Pais read: “Hellerstein, who studied law at Columbia University (New York), began his career as a clerk in the court he now presides over. Throughout his career, he has issued well-reasoned rulings and strived to maintain impartiality, despite being a prominent member of the Jewish community.”

The now amended version reads: “Throughout his career, he has issued well-reasoned rulings and has a reputation for impartiality. He has written that the way in which a judge decides a case should not depend on his religious education, religious identity or religious values.”

A furious Israel special envoy for trade & innovation and former deputy mayor of Jerusalem, Fleur Hassan-Nahoum said: “What disgusting antisemitism we have to put up with from El Pais.”

The European Jewish Congress stated: “Jewish identity is not a conflict of interest. Such language reinforces bias and has real consequences for how Jews are perceived in public life. Media have a responsibility to avoid words that legitimise prejudice and to correct them when they do.”

Judge Alvin Hellerstein has set the next hearing in the case for 17 March.