technical and educational committees for implementing Iran-Venezuela agreements were also set up. The Iranian delegation visited the Venezuelan Foundation for Seismological Research, Caracas Central University, Simón Bolívar University, and the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research. As of the end of 2008, Iran's beneficence to Venezuela had paid dividends in the form of an Iranian ammunition factory, a car assembly plant, a cement factory and even direct air service between Tehran, Damascus and Caracas courtesy of Iran Air, amongst others. Beyond the political-military sphere the two countries also pledged to work together academically in the commissioning of a new university programme at the existing, tuition-free Bolivarian University, with a focus on teaching socialist principles and to promote discussion of "21st century socialism." The government of Venezuela said this followed with plans to establish the University of Civilizations under accords recently signed with Iran. During a visit to Iran in 2010, Chavez and Ahmadenijad said they sought to "establish a new world order." Israel Venezuela-Israel relations were traditionally strong. But the relations have soured under the presidency of Hugo Chavez, who has been a fierce critic of Israel. On 3 August 2006 Chávez ordered the Venezuelan chargé d'affaires to Israel to return from Tel Aviv to Venezuela, protesting the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. Israel responded by recalling its Israeli ambassador to Venezuela. Chávez responded with statements comparing Israel to Hitler and describing their actions as a "new Holocaust", and blamed the United States for their involvement. In an interview with the news agency Al Jazeera in Dubai, Chávez made the first of two controversial statements regarding Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, saying, "They are doing what Hitler did against the Jews." Two days later, on his Sunday show Aló Presidente, he said Israel had "gone mad and is inflicting on the people of Palestine and Lebanon the same thing they have criticized, and with reason: the Holocaust. But this is a new Holocaust" with the help of the United States, which he described as a terrorist country. He went on to say that the United States refuses "to allow the [U.N.] Security Council to make a decision to halt the genocide Israel is committing against the Palestinian and Lebanese people." Accusations of anti-semitism were leveled against Chavez because of these comments. The US-based Anti-Defamation League wrote a letter to Chávez, asking him to consider how his statements might affect Venezuela, and the southern