Argentina removes federal judge over antisemitic remarks in historic first

JTA – An Argentinean federal judge has been removed from office for a series of antisemitic posts on his social media accounts that constituted misconduct incompatible with his role, an impeachment panel ruled. 

Alfredo Eugenio López, who headed Federal Court No. 4 in the coastal city of Mar del Plata, was removed by Argentina’s Jury of Impeachment, a special panel composed of judges, lawmakers, and lawyers. 

It is the first time in Argentina’s history that a judge has been removed over antisemitic remarks. 

In social media posts, López referred to the Jewish people as “a brood of vipers”, Israel as a “fictitious state”, and Argentinian Jews as “foreigners”. He has also used terms such as “Zionist” and “gay” as insults. 

According to the panel, the judge committed acts of “discrimination and the denial of equal rights against the Argentinean Jewish community. For the purposes of these proceedings, it is particularly significant that, by acting in this manner, he shattered public confidence in his continued fitness to administer justice impartially.” 

The case reached the panel through Argentina’s Council of the Magistracy, based in Buenos Aires, the constitutional body responsible for the selection and discipline of federal judges. 

The first complaint against López was filed in February 2025 by the Delegación de Asociaciones Israelitas Argentinas (DAIA), which is the umbrella organisation representing Argentina’s Jewish community. One month later, the Argentine Forum Against Antisemitism also filed a complaint. In July 2025, attorney Yamil Santoro from the Apolo Foundation added another one. 

In his defence, López argued that his messages were “subjective and decontextualised interpretations of exchanges on social media, which in no way affect the administration of justice or his impartiality” as a judge. He added that his remarks were unrelated to any pending case and that he had never been recused or removed from any judicial case. 

Lopez’s attorney was not immediately available for further comment. 

“He was removed because he simply would not stop engaging in hate speech,” jury member Alberto Maques said during a live interview on the A24 news channel. “It is absolutely disgraceful for a federal judge to engage in this kind of conduct.” 

Maques said there were 15 social media posts that he acknowledged, but more than 50 posts in which he said “outrageous things that are not worth repeating because they truly constituted hate speech”. 

“This is not merely an issue of hate speech against the Jewish community. This is someone who lacks common sense,” he added. 

Prosecutors in the impeachment proceedings argued that the messages were not isolated political comments but reflected a pattern of hostility toward Jews, Zionism, and the State of Israel. 

“No position of authority can shield hatred. This is not a matter of punishing an opinion. It is about sanctioning repeated conduct involving antisemitism, hostility, and dehumanisation, conduct incompatible with the impartiality, dignity, and public trust required of the judiciary,” DAIA said on Tuesday in a statement. 

“This case sets a precedent. For the first time in more than a century, DAIA initiated proceedings of this nature against a judge. No office is above democracy.”