A New Iron Curtain Descends on Russia’s Jews
For two decades, the Russian president has cultivated an image of himself as the philosemite-in-chief. Say what you will about Vladimir Putin, he was supposedly the best Russian leader the Jews ever had. There was a reason for this: As long as you had the Jews in your corner, you couldn’t be a fascist. And being anti-fascist was central to the story that the Soviets, and now the Russians, tell about themselves. (Just ask anyone who’s spent Victory Day in Moscow.) It masked Russia’s own, darker, fascistic impulses—which we are now seeing play out in Ukraine.I cannot believe we have to have this conversation about the Holocaust and antisemitism again.
But now the charade is up. Putin has revealed himself to be not so different from his predecessors, and the echo of Russian antisemitism is no longer an echo.
In May, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov insisted that Hitler had “Jewish blood.” In June, television anchor Vladimir Solovyev took to Russia’s Channel 1, which is really a Kremlin media organ, to warn of Russian-speaking “traitors” who “have some relation to the Jewish people.” “You sold out our people long ago, when you decided to serve those who are reviving Nazi ideas in Europe,” Solovyev said.
Just a few weeks later, the Jewish Agency was informed of its closure, and late last month, Russia’s leading Jewish intellectual dissidents—Yevgenia Albats, Dmitry Aleshkovsky, and Dmitry Bykov—were declared to be foreign agents.
All of this—the purge of the intellectuals, the state-sanctioned insinuations of Jewish treachery, and now the closing of the Jewish Agency—are in keeping with the old Soviet model. The only unanswered question is how much Russian Jews will suffer.
It is also a reminder, in case one was needed, of why the Jewish state exists in the first place.
It was easy, until not so long ago, to forget. It’s been decades since Jews had to be airlifted to safety en masse, to say nothing of death camps or pogroms or ghettos. It seemed that we were living in a more enlightened era—one in which one could always book a flight and wake up in Tel Aviv. An era in which Israel is a military and technological powerhouse.
It was also easy to forget that, at its core, Israel was and is not simply a Jewish home but a Jewish haven. That the privilege of Jews in safer, more democratic climes—Jews who claim, like Soviet-Jewish apologists once did, that Israel doesn’t have anything to do with their lives, that the Jewish state doesn’t represent their values—is a privilege Russian Jews would be lucky to enjoy.
Seriously, this conversation again. The Holocaust is not a political tool for you to score political points. Last October, I wrote a piece published in the Reno Gazette-Journal saying that mask and vaccine mandates were not like the Holocaust. In January, I again wrote about antisemitism in The Nevada Independent condemning the lack of support for the Jewish community after the Colleyville hostage crisis.David Singer: Wennesland in La-La Land ignoring Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine
The Nevada Independent’s CEO, Jon Ralston, tweeted this week that the Nevada State Democratic Party hired Shaun Navarro as their new “coalitions coordinator.” Ralston pointed out that Navarro had previously used the term “Nazi” to attack Republicans and gubernatorial nominee Joe Lombardo. Back in March, Navarro accosted Lombardo and asked him where his “Nazi uniform” was while berating him with abusive language.
Prominent Nevada Democrats — U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, Gov. Steve Sisolak (Lombardo’s November opponent) and Assemblymember Steve Yeager — issued statements condemning Navarro’s verbal abuse of Lombardo.
Even further evidence of Navarro’s antisemitism problem is his comment on a post by Sisolak on Facebook, where the governor committed to standing against antisemitism. Navarro responded about genocide against Palestinians, making an implication that Jews are committing genocide instead of recognizing that you can advocate for the Palestinians without disparaging the Jewish community. Again, this is antisemitism as stated by the State Department, nearly all Holocaust education organizations, and Holocaust museums and memorials.
The use of Nazism to appropriate the Holocaust is dangerous and degrades the atrocities the Nazis committed. If you want to oppose Lombardo based on his politics, that’s fine. And honestly, I’m sure Lombardo is okay with your opposition.
Unfortunately, the state party has decided to ignore the Jewish community by allowing its staff to attack Jews for defending themselves from antisemitism. Navarro implied that Jews who condemn the language used by Congressmembers Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar are racist and misogynistic.
It seems inconceivable that [Tor] Wennesland was then unaware of this Saudi plan. Why didn’t he inform the Security Council of its existence and direct his Deputy Special Coordinator Lynn Hastings to do so one month later?
Wennesland simply continued to trot out the old shibboleths - part of the UN’s patter since 1994: - “It is crucial that all parties take immediate steps to lower tensions and reverse negative trends that undermine prospects for a peaceful two-State resolution of the conflict, with a contiguous, independent, viable and sovereign Palestinian State.” - “Settlements constitute a flagrant violation of United Nations resolutions and international law. They undermine the prospect of achieving a two-State solution by systematically eroding the possibility of establishing a contiguous, independent, viable and sovereign Palestinian State.”
Why not add:
“I bring to your attention a new two-state solution emanating from Saudi Arabia on 8 June that should be considered by the Security Council to replace the two-state solution unsuccessfully pursued by the Security Council for the last 29 years.” The Saudi plan would be finalised in direct negotiations between Israel and Jordan that would delineate the international border between The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine and Israel and resolve Israel’s security concerns.
Suffering by both Jews and Arabs meticulously recorded at length by Wennesland in his monthly reports and escalating right now would end – as would the conflict and any further need for UNSCO.
Wennesland is in la-la land and needs to return to the real world.
