Haaretz
Shvat 15, 5765
A fundamentalist Russian
newspaper ran a letter Sunday asking the Prosecutor General of the Russian
Federation, Vladimir Ustinov, to open an investigation against all Jewish
organizations throughout the country on suspicion of spreading incitement
and provoking ethnic strife.
The letter, published in the
Rus-pravoslavnaya newspaper, which defines itself as "patriotic," calls
for an end to government subsidies for these groups. The lengthy document
was signed by 500 people, including newspaper editors, academics and
intellectuals. These signatories were joined by 19 nationalist members of
the lower parliament, the State Duma, from the nationalist Rodina
(homeland) party, Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democratic Party of
Russia (LDPR), and the Russian Communist Part.
Even though the
story was picked up by radio stations and leading Internet sites in
Russian, there has been no official condemnation.
The libelous
document is divided into chapters with such titles as "The Morality of
Jewish Fascism," "Provocateurs and People Haters," and "Jewish Aggression
as an Expression of Devilry."
"I'm not a psychiatrist, and I can't
help them if they're crazy," said Russia's co-chief rabbi, Berel Lazar, in
response. "The worst possibility is that they're sane and are making a
cynical move for electoral purposes."
The blood libel, described
here as a ritual murder of Christian children that has already been proved
in the courts, is only one thrust of the letter, which runs into thousands
of words and weaves a convoluted web between classic religious
anti-Semitism and current anti-Israeli sentiment.
The writers see a
direct line between the Shulhan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law) and other
halakhic sources they quote profusely, and the transfer program espoused
by Yisrael Beitenu chairman Avigdor Lieberman.
The letter also
indirectly criticizes President Putin and the state courts for their
policy of trying anyone charged with anti-Semitism and incitement, without
verifying the claims' veracity. Those charged spoke the truth, the letter
maintains, and those accused of anti-Semitism were nothing but
patriots.
The writers make use of quotations from traditional
Jewish sources and current Israeli and Jewish publications. In the chapter
on the Jewish oligarchs' devastating control of Russia's economy and
politics, the letter quotes Jewish writers from Israel and the United
States, along with excerpts from interviews with the oligarchs
themselves.
Minister of Diaspora Affairs Natan Sharansky expressed
shock Monday at the fierceness of the anti-Semitic letter, saying that
although the signatories represent a slim segment of Russian society,
latent anti-Semitism is clearly a major danger there.
Sharansky
quoted Putin saying that anti-Semitism is not only a danger to his
country's Jewish population, but a threat to the stability of his
regime.
According to Sharansky, even though popular anti-Semitism
is entrenched in Russian culture, Putin viewed the Jews as a bridge in new
relations with the West, and granted freedom to Jewish communities
there.
"However, Putin, for reasons of his own, precisely now needs
to bolster Russia's national pride," Sharansky said. "The problem is that
the moment you start playing with nationalist slogans, they immediately
link up with the most primitive prejudice."
Sharansky called on
Putin and the Russian parliament to treat the letter and its authors
harshly.