For some time, Russia has pursued friendly relations with Israel while unequivocally backing Palestinian statehood. But Tatyana Nosenko notes a new form of anti-Israel sentiment stemming from with the “Eurasian” ideology closely associated with Vladimir Putin:
[P]roponents of the so-called Eurasian
ideology [endorse a brand of] Russian particularism based on [the
country’s] special values and traditions. Their severe criticism of
Zionism often borders on anti-Semitism. Jews are condemned for the
dissemination of the image of Arabs, and Muslims in general, as
terrorists—with the alleged aim of destroying Russia and breaking its
traditional ties with the world of Islam. According to the holders of
these views, the instigators of national and religious conflicts want . .
. “to make our country fully dependent on the racist part of the
Israeli political establishment and its Western masters.” . . .
[Eurasianists] do not see the struggle
for an independent Palestine simply as a political task to realize the
legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. Russian Orthodox
nationalism [on which they draw heavily] is imbued with a messianic
idea, and its partisans consider Palestinian independence as a tool for
the realization of Russia’s historical mission through the reemergence
of the Russian sacred presence in the Holy Land. . . .
[Eurasianist] circles are also known for
promoting different conspiracy theories [according to which] all the
evils and misfortunes of the Middle East, like the emergence of militant
Islam and its most radical groups, are attributed to the activities of
the American CIA and Israeli intelligence services.
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