Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu said on Sunday that the detention of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was part of a broader global trend in which, in his words, “regimes of evil” ultimately collapse.
Eliyahu, the chief rabbi of Safed in northern Israel and a prominent figure in Israel’s religious-Zionist camp, framed the dramatic events in Venezuela as evidence of a moral and historical pattern, rather than a standalone political development.
Maduro was detained in an operation by US forces early Saturday, and Venezuela’s Supreme Court ordered Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez to assume the role of acting president, according to Reuters. The Associated Press reported that Maduro was flown to the United States to face criminal charges, after what it described as an unprecedented operation that removed a sitting leader from office.
In a statement published by the rabbi's office, Eliyahu wrote that “this event is not a local case, it is another link in a tightening chain” and argued that dictators and terror organizations eventually face decline.
'Leaders who build power on lies find themselves on wrong side of history'
Eliyahu pointed to a range of developments he said reflected the same trajectory, including the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s rule in Syria and the killing of senior terror leaders in the region. He also claimed pressure was building on Iran’s clerical leadership.
“The shared denominator is clear,” he wrote, describing systems built on oppression, corruption, and fear, and arguing that such a rule “will not survive over time,” according to the statement.
Eliyahu tied his message to Jewish liturgy, referencing prayers that call for the removal of evil from the world during the High Holidays, and said current events showed those themes playing out in real time.
He concluded with a theological assertion that “God does not do half a job,” adding that leaders who build power “on blood, fear and lies” eventually find themselves, in his words, “on the wrong side of history.”