The 24th volume of the daily, which a Czech journalist writes for readers of the List of News directly from Moscow
Aren’t you a Jew? I was probably lucky, but I only met anti-Semitism in Russia. No no. I am not a Jew, nor do I profess the Jewish faith. I only react sensitively to various manifestations of intolerance. And that there are them in Russia!
The question of whether or not I am a Jew was fired on me more than ten years ago by an uncle at the Tretyakovskaya Moscow metro station. He looked like an intelligent lord. Sixties with a beard. At first I thought I overheard. “I’m asking if you’re not a Jew,” he said.
I didn’t understand what he meant. Out of boredom, does he find out the ethnic composition of passengers on the Moscow metro? Is he a Jew and looking for a brother in faith? Or is it a maniac who kills Jews right underground? Each of these variants could be correct. After all, our bizarre conversation took place in Russia. But because I told the guy I was “slavjanin”.
I was not surprised when Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov began to meditate on Judaism, nationalism, and Hitler’s Jewish roots.
Lavrov said that the fact that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is a Jew does not mean that there are no Nazi elements in Ukraine.
“He (Zelensky) argues that how can Nazification be with them when he is Jewish. I may be wrong, but Adolf Hitler also had Jewish blood. That means absolutely nothing. The wise Jewish nation says that the greatest anti-Semites are usually Jews, “said the head of Russian diplomacy.
When he opposed the entire Israeli political establishment, including Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, he received a brazen response on the official Twitter page. account Russian Foreign Ministry.
“We have noticed an ahistorical statement by Israeli Foreign Minister Jair Lapid, which largely explains the current Israeli government’s policy in support of the neo-Nazi regime in Kiev.”
In short, Russia teaches Israel how to recognize Nazism.
Russian anti-Semitism is part of the everyday hatred of Russians over everything. And especially to what appears to be foreign or antagonistic to anything Russian.
According to a survey by the independent sociological agency Levada Centr last December, only 27% of Russians are willing to see Jews among the Russian population. 13% of respondents (19 million Russians per capita) would like Jews to be banned from entering the country.
À propos, two months before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, 17% of Russians wished their “brothers” Ukrainians were not allowed to go to Russia.
This is the good old Russian xenophobia. No offense.
Meanwhile on Russian state TV: host Vladimir Solovyov and several angry pundits smoothly descend from bashing Tweets by @anneapplebaum into straight-up antisemitism. Judge for yourself—and remember, these are the same people claiming they’re in Ukraine to “eradicate Nazism.” pic.twitter.com/jbPZus3ecI
— Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) April 20, 2022
“Jews are to blame.” Or “Russian opposition? Jews are crowded there. ”I have heard these and similar lamentations countless times. From ordinary people, but also politicians. It came to them as a clear explanation of the iceberg – from the failures of life to the influence of the government regime.
And then there are the Russian paradoxes. Until recently, a party of Russian nationalist populists, who built their program on the defense of Russian values, led Vladimir Volfovich Eydstein. Known more as Zhirinovsky.
“Felgengauer? She is a Jew only by surname, ” fired prominent propagandist Vladimir Solovyov recently addressed a journalist at the regime’s liquidated Echo of Moscow radio station. By the way, also a Jew.
Don’t look for meaning in that. This is simply Russia.
The Russian diary of Jiří Just
