Лена Грунтова
Lena Gruntova, a Jew. I was born and have been living for 35 years in Moscow, Russia, with my family and two kids. I’m a formet Latin prodessor and now I’m a linguist at Yandex.
EVENTS IN UKRAINE : THE JEWISH VIEW
Original text in Russian: http://www.rjc.ru/rus/site.aspx?
27.02.2014
Eduard Dolinsky , executive director of the Ukrainian Jewish Committee :After the recent tragic events, the situation in Kiev , fortunately, is gradually coming back to normal. Although a couple of days ago queues in shops were unreal , gasoline at the pump was out and there was no way to get money through ATMs . Now all this is behind us .
However, some negative events do not cease to disturb us . For example, two days ago there was an attempt to Zaporozhye synagogue , unidentified persons threw five bottles with gasoline in its wall. To everyone’s joy , no one was hurt , but it was a very unfortunate incident .
And if you evaluate what is happening in general, all Jews living in Ukraine, are disturbed by the participation of «Freedom» party in the events. That party is notorious for its very sharp anti-Semitic statements . But even they allowed themselves to anti-Semitic attack only once for the entire period of Maidan. It was December 31 , when deputies from «Freedom» party performed on Maidan square the so-called » Christmas nativity scene .» There was such a character as «Jew «, presented quite negatively. And the deputy of «Freedom» and at the same time one of our actors Bogdan Benyuk performed in that role. This image was presented to the public in accordance with all the traditions of anti-Semitic «I ‘m a Jew, and now I’m a deputy ! » — All this was pouring as recitative from the mouth of the «character» .
But, to be honest , in the last two months «Freedom» party allowed itself to no more than that . One gets the impression that they forgot about the existence of such a word as a Jew , and that now they do not care in general about the Jewish theme.
***
Vadim Rabinovich , president of the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress , co-chairman of the European Jewish Parliament (source http://www.sinagoga.kiev.ua/node/4472 ) : For the entire period of events occurring in Ukraine I was in Kiev myself and with my own eyes — and not though TV or media – has been watching the situation . United Jewish Community of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Jewish Congress all the time have been in constant contact with Jewish communities throughout Ukraine and with law enforcement authorities , they monitored and studied the situation The overall situation in relation to the Jewish community in Ukraine is tolerant and peaceful , no mass bursts or exacerbation of anti-Semitism in Ukraine have been reported.
Several weeks ago, there were cases of attacks on members of the community at the synagogue in Kiev. The situation is being investigated by police officers as a criminal case , the investigation has video data. It is believed that the investigation will be completed .
On the night of February 24 , a Molotov cocktail was thrown into the wall of synagogue in Kiev by the unknown person. I spoke directly with Rabbi of Zaporozhye and the head of the local community : fortunately no serious damage was committed and everything will be restored .
Law enforcement agencies are seriously engaged in the situation, a criminal case is being investigated. I personally talked with the leaders of a number of groups who consider themselves radical and who assured me that there was no anti-Semitism attacks planned and will not be. Furthermore, they emphasized that will fight mercilessly with similar manifestations in their environment.
I want to reiterate that even in the difficult period of civil struggle is no ground to argue about any serious cases of anti-Semitism in Ukraine ! So I categorically repudiates some foreign media for their false allegations of mass anti-Semitism aggression and xenophobia in Ukraine!
Fanning the situation around this issue is provocative in nature and doesn’t help for a quiet life of the Jewish community in Ukraine.
Together with all the people of Ukraine Jewish community will actively participate in building a democratic state and promoting the revival and prosperity of the country .
___
In Russia, the situation is different. We see the growing acceptance of anti-semitic
rhetoric in public field.
http://www.jewish.ru/news/cis/2014/02/news994323109.php
11.02.2014
(quote)
Russian Jewish Congress is outraged with an anti-Semitic statements of Kaliningrad regional Duma deputy Oleg Bolycheva which he made at the plenary session of the regional parliament late last week .
According to a video of the meeting of February 6, which is now at the disposal of the Russian Jewish Congress , deputy Bolychev named a number of federal and Kaliningrad politicians » Jews barricaded in opposition.»
According Bolychev , «in the early 90 -ies our government was infiltrated by foreign spies, which now govern the process of destroying our country .» » You have destroyed our country in 1917, you have destroyed our country in 1991 » — said Bolychev , referring to Kaliningrad deputies Solomon Ginzburg and Arseny Mahlov .
http://help.rjc.ru/site.aspx?SECTIONID=91208&IID=2540774
A man named Rabinovich
18.02.2014
(quote)
Russian Jewish Congress considers unacceptable the use of nationality as an argument to the critics In the final program of Dmitry Kiselev on the TV channel » Russia -1″ (the main Russian TV-media — LG) tha author harshly criticized the radio station » Echo of Moscow» and its key authors — journalists Viktor Shenderovich and Igor Irtenyev .
In this Kiselev highlighted their Jewish origins . Speaking about Igor Irtenyev, who writes under the creative pseudonym , Kiselev focused not only on his surname , but also on the poet’s middle name — Igor Moiseevich Rabinovich . Obviously, to a wide audience of the channel there was not a slightest doubt what was meant .
Russian Jewish Congress considers unacceptable when nationality of the opponent used as an argument in the dispute , as further justification for his critics . We have already heard in the courtroom like the case of the rural teacher Ilya Farber , when the prosecutor used the name of the accused as evidence against him (say, » a man named Farber » can not be honest).
<…>
We have not forgotten that one of the most difficult periods in the history of Jews in Russia , from the tragic outcome of which our people has kept only the death of the tyrant , begins with the campaign disclosure aliases ( directed , as in today’s case , only the Jews ) . We can not escape the direct analogies . We are considering going back to this practice as outright xenophobic . And the fact that this is done with the screen of the main state television channel , in the final political and television program featuring popular TV presenter and a senior leader of state media , is the darkest associations and expectations.