Russia’s richest Jew thought European anti-Semitism was a thing of the past. Now, he’s not so sure

Viktor Vekselberg @ JTA:

Last year, my hometown of Drohobych in western Ukraine witnessed the re-opening of a choral synagogue that my father Felix and I helped to rebuild. This synagogue, dating back to the mid-nineteenth century, used to be the biggest in all of Eastern Galicia. The dedication ceremony was not meant to be all pomp and circumstance, and still over 5,000 people showed up that day. For Drohobych, with its population of 70,000, this is truly an astronomical figure. Many families traveled from afar to attend the dedication of the synagogue in person.

But only a few weeks later, unidentified criminals smashed the synagogue’s windows. Apparently, the fact that the town now has an active Jewish synagogue that was rebuilt with the money donated by a Russian businessperson made some unhappy.

This is just one example of a hate crime that Ukrainian Jews have witnessed over the past few months. Another Jewish synagogue was desecrated in Lviv. In Kolomyya, in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, a memorial wall at a local Jewish cemetery was defiled with graffiti depicting a man throwing the star of David into a trash can. In mid-February, swastikas appeared on the plasma screens in a Kiev shopping mall.

No wonder Jewish communities all over the world were greatly alarmed by the torchlight procession in the Ukrainian capital on New Year’s Eve.

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Russia: Swastikas daubed on Chabad center in cradle of Lubavitch Hasidic movement

Via JTA:

Anti-Semitic slogans were scrawled on the fence of a Jewish cultural center in the Russian village of Lyubavichi, the cradle of the Chabad Hasidic movement.

The inscriptions, reading “Jews out of Russia, our land” and featuring the Baltic variant of the swastika, were spray-painted on the wall of the Hatzer Raboteinu Nesieinu Belubavitch last week but reported Tuesday in the Russian-language media, the news site Cursor reported.

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Russia: Israeli man beaten to death in suspected anti-Semitic attack

Via Times of Israel:

A Russian-born Israeli man died Monday night of severe injuries he sustained after being attacked on a St. Petersburg street several days ago in what authorities are investigating as a suspected anti-Semitic attack.

The Russian-language outlet Fontanka reported Tuesday that Mikhail Verevskoy, 27, had suffered traumatic brain injuries and fractured ribs and facial bones, as well as internal injuries.

The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs said a suspect, Ahmed Kharsha, 36, was arrested and released on bail. Kharsha was forbidden from leaving the city. Russian authorities investigating the attack have not ruled out an anti-Semitic motive, the report said.

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Verevskoy is survived by his wife, who is in a local maternity ward where she is due to give birth.

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Russia: Moscow University Student Removed From Exam for Jewish Headwear

Via Moscow Times:

A Jewish student at Moscow State University was barred from taking an exam this week after he declined to take off his religious headgear at the request of a professor.

Lev Boroda was asked by geography professor Vyacheslav Baburin to remove his Jewish religious cap, called a yarmulke or kippah, or leave the classroom, the SOVA Center monitoring group reported Tuesday.

Boroda, who later took the exam with a different professor, has reportedly filed a complaint about the incident with university administrators.

The film student recalled an earlier incident in which the university’s gym teacher told him to “cross himself” when he asked for permission to skip class during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, the SOVA Center reported.

Sergei Dobrolyubov, the dean of the geography department, lauded the professor for following the university’s rules, which prohibit headgear from being worn on campus. He pointed to Baburin’s request last year for female Muslim students to remove their headscarves before exams.

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Russia: Murmansk Jewish leader's car set aflame on Christmas

Via Barents Observer:

At midnight on the 7th of January, as Russia was celebrating the Orthodox Christmas, someone put the community leader’s car on fire. Ilya Raskin believes it was not coincidental.

«The Jewish community sees this not only as an act of vandalism and hooliganism, but also as a well-directed antisemitic and extremist act, aimed at stirring inter-ethnic and inter-religious strife,» he says on his Facebook page.

Next to the car, which was partly destroyed by the fire, was found a gasoline can, 7x7-journal reports. Raskin says to the online news magazine that he intends to address the FSB and the prosecutor’s office about the case.

He argues that the timing indicates that there was an antisemitic motive behind the fire.

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Russian priest denies blaming Jews for killing tsar

Via The Times of Israel:

The head of a Russian Orthodox Church panel looking into the 1918 killing of Russia’s last tsar and his family said his statement that the church is investigating whether it was a ritual murder had no anti-Semitic connotations.

Father Tikhon Shevkunov said Thursday that he was only talking about the “ritual revenge of atheist Bolsheviks” and never implicated the Jews.  

At an event in Moscow earlier this week, Shevkunov said that according to “the most rigorous approach to the version of ritual murder, a significant part of the church commission [on Nicholas II’s killing during the Russian revolution of 1917] has no doubt that this murder was ritual.” 

That drew an angry response from Russia’s largest Jewish group, which denounced the words as a revival of anti-Semitic myths. 

Also at the conference, Marina Molodtsova, a senior investigator for a special ministerial committee on the 1917 slaying of Nicholas II of Russia, said her committee will conduct “a psycho-historical examination” to find out whether the execution of the royal family was a ritual murder, Ria Novosti reported. 

Claims that Nicholas was killed by Jews for ritual purposes had been limited before the conference to a fringe of zealous anti-Semites and promoters of unsophisticated conspiracy theories.

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Russia: Bishop caims that Jews killed Czar in ritual murder

Via Haaretz:

Russia’s largest Jewish organization protested a local bishop’s claim, repeated by a justice ministry official, that the country’s last czar was murdered by Jews for ritual purposes.

Marina Molodtsova, a senior investigator for a special ministerial committee on the 1917 killing of Czar Nicholas II of Russia, said on Monday during a conference in Moscow that her committee will conduct “a psycho-historical examination” to find out whether the execution of the royal family was a ritual murder, the state-run Ria Novosti news agency reported.

At the same event, Father Tikhon Shevkunov, a Russian Orthodox Church bishop, said that, according to “the most rigorous approach to the version of ritual murder, a significant part of the church commission [on Nicholas II’s killing during the Russian revolution of 1917] has no doubt that this murder was ritual.”

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Russia: TV series claims Jewish Trotsky masterminded bloody 1917 revolution

Via The Times of Israel:

Leaving historians unsure whether show is anti-Semitic or simply sensationalist, upcoming drama accuses Marxist thinker of murdering tsar's family 

A hundred years after the Russian revolution, the Russians are claiming that a Jew was behind it — at least according to a new television drama. 

An eight-episode series entitled “Trotsky” argues it was Jewish revolutionary Leon Trotsky — and not Vladimir Lenin — who masterminded the revolution that brought the communists to power. The film also blames Trotsky for the execution of the Russian royal family.

The upcoming televised drama will be screened on Russian TV in the beginning of November, in time for the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. 

 “You can say that Trotsky wrote the music, and Lenin sang to it. Trotsky made the revolution happen; Lenin only lead it,” said Alexander Kott, the Jewish co-director of the TV series. (...)

But most historians don’t accept the new theory that it was Trotsky who masterminded the Russian revolution.

“This is utter nonsense. It doesn’t fit in with any historical facts. I totally disagree,” said Gennady Estraikh, a New York University professor who specializes in Jewish history in Russia. “It smells like anti-Semitism, the claim that the Jews were responsible for the revolution rather than the Russians. It’s very strange.”

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Russia: Firebomb hurled at Jewish group’s Moscow offices

Via JTA:

A firebombing at the Moscow offices of the largest Jewish organization in Russia caused minimal damage and no injuries. 

Footage from the incident Monday night at the offices of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia showed a person whose facial features are not clearly visible throwing the firebomb and fleeing as it bursts into flames, the online edition of the L’Chaim Jewish newspaper reported Wednesday. The offices are adjacent to the Marina Roscha Synagogue. 

Moscow Metropolitan Police shared the footage with the local media. 

The Marina Roschina Synagogue complex, which is also the seat of Berel Lazar, one of Russia’s two chief rabbis and the head emissary of the Chabad movement to the former Soviet Union, has blast-proof windows and doors and is guarded during the day by security personnel carrying automatic weapons. All visitors must pass through a metal detector. 

Last month, firebombs were hurled at the studio of a renowned Russian-Jewish film director who is reviled by some nationalists for his controversial depiction of the love affair between Russia’s last czar and a ballerina.

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Russia: American neo-Nazis are flocking to Russian social media

Via VICE (h/t glykosymoritis):

In the uproar following the violence in Charlottesville earlier this month, one of America’s leading neo-Nazi websites, The Daily Stormer, was all but chased off the internet, thwarted even by Russian authorities within hours of its attempt to register a new .ru domain.

But Moscow’s swift move came with a striking irony: American and European right-wing extremists and neo-Nazis have in recent years flocked to Russia’s biggest social network site, VK.

VK, Russia’s most-trafficked website, has emerged as a social media hub for high-profile American far-right groups like the National Socialist Movement — which the Southern Poverty Law Center has called “notable for its violent anti-Jewish rhetoric” — despite the fact that pro-Nazi propaganda is illegal in Russia.

“VK is like Facebook with never having to say you’re sorry,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which combats anti-Semitism. “It’s the kind of place where extremists, backers of terrorism, haters, and bigots migrate when they find that their messages can no longer be easily placed on Facebook and other social sites.”

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Russia: Firebombs hit studio of Russian-Jewish film director reviled by nationalists

Via JTA:

Firebombs were hurled at the studio of a renowned Russian-Jewish film director who is reviled by some nationalists for his controversial depiction of the love affair between Russia’s last czar and a ballerina.

The firebombs hit the windows of Alexei Uchitel’s studio in St. Petersburg on Wednesday night, causing a fire that was extinguished before it could cause serious damage to the building, RIA Novosti reported. The blaze did not spread into the studio’s interior.

Uchitel, whose film “Matilda” about the extramarital love affair of Nicholas II and the ballet dancer Matilda Kshesinskaya is set to premiere in October, told the Russian news agency that he did not know who perpetrated the attack.

The film has prompted protests by many devout Christians and several groups representing them, the news site Jewish.ru reported. They complained that the steamy sex scenes were immoral, and that the characterization of the relationship was historically false as well as an insult to Russia’s national honor.

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Sweden, Russia support UNESCO measure condemning "Israeli occupation of Jerusalem"

Russia and Sweden supported the measure.  Sweden was the only Western and democratic regime to support it.

The measure passed thanks to all the countries who abstained.  In Europe these include: Albania, Spain, Estonia, France and Slovenia


Via UN Watch:

The resolution on Jerusalem, despite a passing mention of “the three monotheistic religions,” ignores Jewish and Christian religious and historical ties to the city, condemning Israel for excavations of the Jewish capital that have revealed the ancient City of David, along with pottery inscriptions, coins and artifacts connected to Jewish life during and before the time of Jesus.

“Once again, the United Nations agency for education, science and culture is being hijacked by genocidal regimes and serial human rights abusers like Sudan, Iran, Algeria, Qatar, and Russia,” said Neuer.

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Europe: Ira Forman worried about antisemitism in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Russia

Via Pajamas Media:

Removing a special envoy position for combating anti-Semitism would send a bad signal to the rest of the world concerning American attitudes on the issue, the former envoy in the Obama administration said Wednesday. 

Ira Forman served as the U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism in the State Department from 2013 to 2017. According to Bloomberg, the Trump administration in its budget proposal is considering discontinuing Forman’s and other special envoy offices in an attempt to balance out a $54 billion increase in defense spending. This prompted a bipartisan group of 167 House members to send a letter to the Trump administration Monday asking that he fill the “crucial” office that “enables the U.S. to show the world its commitment to these ideals” of human rights “particularly at a time when anti-Semitism is dangerously on the rise.” 

Forman said he believes the special envoy office will be filled, though he didn’t base that assumption on any inside information or contact with the White House. The position is congressionally mandated, so it would require legislation to remove the office. 

Forman said that in maintaining itself as a world superpower, the U.S. not only has to sustain its economic and military position in the world, but it also must maintain core values. Combating anti-Semitism is part of that, said Forman, who spoke at Georgetown University's Center for Jewish Civilization. (...)

Forman is most concerned about Jewish communities in France, which has the largest Jewish population outside the U.S. or Israel with nearly 500,000, and Turkey, where he believes anti-Semitism is used frequently as a political tool. Belgium, the Netherlands and Russia also made his list.

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Russia: Hostage taker refers to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion

Via Sputnik:

On Monday, a man from Moscow took his own family hostage, locking them in their own apartment. Earlier, the man had requested asylum in North Korea, China and Iran.

(...)

Before the hostage situation unfolded, the man had posted on his VK.com page, calling for help with getting in touch with embassies of China, North Korea and Iran: "Get the media attention. I don't care if I end up in jail or a funny farm <…> I need to get in contact with an embassy. <…> If you want to help me, contact the embassy of China, North Korea or Iran. Pass along my message: I will talk only when I'm on the territory of [any one of] these embassies."

The man ended his message with a peculiar advice: "Read the protocols of Zionist wisemen. I have proof!"

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Israeli envoy raps Russia for blocking anti-Semitism definition

Via Times of Israel:

Israel’s ambassador in Moscow criticized Russia for blocking the international adoption of a definition of anti-Semitism, which he linked to a recent string of allegedly racist statements about Jews by Russian politicians.

Gary Koren made his unusual statement on anti-Semitism in Russia in an interview with Interfax, the news agency reported Wednesday. Koren singled out Russia for blocking the definition’s adoption by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, an intergovernmental group of 57 member states.

“The OSCE has attempted to determine a text, which ought to define what can be classified as anti-Semitism and what its working definition is,” the envoy said. “We are discussing this issue with the Russian Foreign Ministry and hope that Russia will adopt this definition in the future.”

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Russia: Moscow’s Chief Rabbi Saddened by "Total Silence" From MPs in Anti-Semitism Row

Via Newsweek:

Moscow’s top rabbi has condemned the “total silence” from Russia’s parliament after its deputy speaker made comments which appeared to blame Jews for destroying cathedrals.

Pinchas Goldschmidt was referring to remarks made by Pyotr Tolstoy, the deputy speaker of Russia’s lower house from the ruling United Russia party and the great-grandson of Russian writer Leo Tolstoy.

Tolstoy had been asked to comment on protests against the planned transfer of state ownership of Russia’s St Isaac’s Cathedral to the Orthodox Church.

The demonstrations were featured in many liberal media outlets. The protesters, Tolstoy argued, were "working in various very respectable places—on radio stations, in legislative assemblies [and] continuing the work" of their ancestors, who had “destroyed our cathedrals after jumping over from the Pale of Settlement with revolvers in 1917."

(...)

Speaking to state news agency RIA Novosti, Goldschmidt said he was disappointed that lawmakers had not distanced themselves from Tolstoy’s words.

The rabbi stated that the deputy speaker’s words were not simply ignorance. “Germany has the highest level of culture in Europe but it spawned Nazism,” he said.

“What bothers me is something else—the reaction to this statement,” Goldschmidt said. “Instead of having Pyotr Tolstoy meet with the head of the Jewish Communities Federations of Russia, Alexandr Boroda, it would have been much more effective and pleasing if the head of [his] party in the lower house, speakers and other politicians distanced themselves from the aforementioned statement and made it known that they do not agree with this opinion. But from them, all that came was total silence.”

If there had been a similar situation in another country, the rabbi said, “we would have immediately seen how other non-Jewish politicians would distance themselves from such a statement. I am very saddened this did not occur here.”

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Russian lawmaker: Ancestors of Jewish politicians ‘boiled us in cauldrons’

Via JTA:

A Russian lawmaker in President Vladimir Putin’s party said the ancestors of two Jewish opposition politicians had killed Christians.

“Christians survived despite the fact that the ancestors of Boris Vishnevsky and Maksim Reznik boiled us in cauldrons and fed us to animals,” Vitaly Milonov said Sunday, according to Agence France-Presse.

Jewish groups and leaders condemned Milonov’s statement.

“For a State Duma deputy, it is unacceptable to make such irresponsible statements,” said Rabbi Boruch Gorin, the spokesman for the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, AFP reported.

The president of the Russian Jewish Congress told AFP that it was “clear to any normal person that these lawmakers are of Jewish descent and that he means Jews.”

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Russia: American Chabad rabbi called security risk, ordered to leave

Via JTA:

An American rabbi who has worked for the Chabad movement in Russia since 2002 said he and his family are facing deportation under a provision dealing with threats to national security.

Ari Edelkopf, a father of seven who grew up in the United States and lived in Israel before settling in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi as Chabad’s envoy there, wrote Sunday on Facebook that he was informed of the decision without receiving further information on specific allegations.

Amid a crackdown in Russia on organizations with foreign funding, Edelkopf’s staying permit was revoked in December, according to Interfax. He lost an appeal in regional court, forcing him to leave Russia by Feb. 11. Edelkopf has denied any involvement in political issues or crimes.

The Chabad-affiliated Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia condemned the move. Boruch Gorin, a federation spokesman, told the French news agency AFP that this was “far from an isolated incident.” He added that at least seven rabbis have been forced to leave Russia in recent years for alleged immigration violations.

Gorin said this was “an attempt to establish control” on Jewish communities in Russia, which he said are serviced by some 70 rabbis, of whom half are foreign.

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Ukraine says Russian secret services spread anti-Semitic sentiments in Ukraine

Via Kyiv Post:

Secret services of the Russian Federation are spreading anti-Semitic sentiments in Ukraine, Verkhovna Rada deputy Anton Herashchenko said, speaking during a live interview broadcast by the Kyiv-based 112.ua TV channel in Kyiv on Jan. 23 evening.

“You probably remember the news in November that a pig’s head was left on the tombstone of Tsadik, who is revered by Jews, in Uman. There was also the news that anti-Semitic graffiti appeared in Chernivtsi during the visit of Israel’s Knesset speaker. Anti-Semitic books were also distributed in November and December of last year. I can say that these incidents are not coincidental. They are part of a concerted effort by Russian special forces to sow anti-Semitic sentiments in Ukraine,” Herashchenko said.

   
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Russia: Duma’s Deputy Speaker speaks against Jews

Via Jewish Press:

The Russian Federation of Jewish Communities (FJC) on Tuesday accused the Duma’s Deputy Speaker Pyotr Tolstoy of undermining international peace and called on the Parliament to rebuke him for his statements concerning the handing over of St. Petersburg’s St. Isaac’s Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church, Interfax reported.

Tolstoy told a press conference that “the people who are the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those who pulled down our temples, and jumped out from the Pale of Settlement to the revolver in 1917, and today are working in very respectable places – on the radio, in the legislatures, continue the work of their grandfathers and great-grandfathers.”

“We usually hear such statements from irresponsible instigators of anti-Semitic campaigns,” the FJC stated. “When we hear this from the mouth of the State Duma deputy speaker at an official press conference, it directly undermines inter-ethnic peace in the country and stirs up tension.”

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