The Russian News and Information Agency has commented on the letter signed by members of the Duma (parliment) and others accusing the Jews of fabricating antisemitism to divide and conquer Russia.
The main victim of this modern-day Protocols of the Elders of Zion? Why, Mr. Putin, of course. Why? Because it might disrupt arms sales to Syria:
But the main victim of that anti-Semitic action is not the Jews but President Putin, even though he is invariably polite with the hierarchs of the main faiths of Russia. The trouble is that he will have to answer for the silly and crude escapade of 500 pseudo-patriots, which is bound to have broad international repercussions.
As for the mental health of the authors of the anti-Semitic letter, Rabbi Lazar is wrong: Though they are not very clever, they certainly had a specific political goal in mind. The suit filed by the Black Hundred was prompted by a desire to promptly drive a new wedge between Russia and Israel, while the two countries are trying to smooth over misunderstanding about Russian arms deliveries to Syria.
The only thing they disregarded is that Mr. Sharon and Mr. Putin will come to an agreement, one way or another, while the Black Hundred and Mr. Putin will never find a common language.
Perhaps.
But Mr. Putin and Rabbi Lazar have found a common language. And on a day that the Jerusalem Post is reporting that the Russian missle sale to Syria will go forward, Rabbi Lazar prepares to award a medal – at Auschwitz – to Mr. Putin.
Unless the earth beneath their feet opens and swallows them both whole.
http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160&msg_id=5343839&startrow=11&date=2005-01-26&do_alert=0
005-01-26 09:46 * RUSSIA * ANTI-SEMITISM * PUTIN *
PUTIN AS A VICTIM OF ANTI-SEMITISM
MOSCOW (RIA Novosti political commentator Pyotr Romanov) - On the day when the world recalled the liberation of Auschwitz prisoners by the Red Army 60 years ago, 500 Russians who claim to be patriots filed a suit with the Prosecutor General's Office in Moscow, demanding that Jewish organizations be closed down in Russia.
These people - some of them are deputies of the current State Duma - believe that Jews blow up their synagogues, defile Jewish cemeteries and fan anti-Semitism in Russia. One of the authors of that initiative, Deputy Alexander Krutov (Homeland), told television journalists that Judaism was even guilty of making human sacrifices. And this is not the Middle Ages.
Russia's Chief Rabbi Berl Lazar was not prepared for the powerful intellectual offensive of the modern-day Black Hundred and hence spoke highly emotionally at a press conference: "The gentlemen who signed that crazy document are unbalanced... And I cannot help them because I am not a psychiatrist."
Unlike the rabbi, Russian Jews do not believe Mr. Krutov is crazy, as they have seen too many of such outwardly healthy people. This is why the Moscow Human Rights Bureau, the International Society for Human Rights, and the Holocaust Foundation filed a counter-suit with the Prosecutor General's Office and the President. They demand that the authorities note the growth of neo-Nazi sentiments in Russia, which, according to a recent report from the Global Forum Against Anti-Semitism, is third in the world for strongly anti-Semitic sentiments. It is poor consolation that France and Britain are at the top of the list - it is their shame and they will have to deal with it.
January is a bad month for Russian Jews. The phrase "residence limit" joined the Russian vocabulary in January during the rule of Alexander I. Solomon Michoels, head of the famous Jewish theatre, was killed on Stalin's orders and the persecution of the Antifascist Jewish Committee began in January 1948. Next followed the notorious "Jewish doctors' plot." And now Mr. Krutov and other Black Hundred members have added their names to the dishonorable January list, which also includes deputies from Mr. Zyuganov's Communist Party (KPRF) and Mr. Zhirinovsky's LDPR.
But the main victim of that anti-Semitic action is not the Jews but President Putin, even though he is invariably polite with the hierarchs of the main faiths of Russia. The trouble is that he will have to answer for the silly and crude escapade of 500 pseudo-patriots, which is bound to have broad international repercussions.
As for the mental health of the authors of the anti-Semitic letter, Rabbi Lazar is wrong: Though they are not very clever, they certainly had a specific political goal in mind. The suit filed by the Black Hundred was prompted by a desire to promptly drive a new wedge between Russia and Israel, while the two countries are trying to smooth over misunderstanding about Russian arms deliveries to Syria.
The only thing they disregarded is that Mr. Sharon and Mr. Putin will come to an agreement, one way or another, while the Black Hundred and Mr. Putin will never find a common language.