by Nina Achmatova

The spokesman for the Russian Jewish Congress: "A painful episode, because right now our synagogues are praying for the victims of the attack in Jerusalem."

Moscow (AsiaNews) - While rhetoric continues to abound in Russia about  the struggle "against the Nazis in Kiev", referring to the Ukrainian authorities in power after the fall of President Viktor Yanukovych, anti-Semitism is raising its head in Moscow.

On November 24, employees of "Limmud" Torah Study Center, found graffiti on the buildings walls that reads: "This is a Zionists lair. Out!". The incident was reported to Interfax by the head of the the Russian Jewish Congress, Mikhail Savin.

"This is the second case of anti-Semitism this year, after the nationalists actions in Perm during the Russian March on November 4", denounced Savin. November 4, the Day of National Unity, is also traditionally a day when Russian far right groups organize marches in cities across the country. On that day in Perm, antisemitic posters were pasted onto the porch of the local synagogue. Until November there had been no attacks or vandalism this year the Russian Jewish Congress spokesman reveals.

"These days, when all the synagogues in Russia are praying for the victims of the attack in Jerusalem, anti-Semitic incidents like these are especially painful for us," admitted Savin, who urged the police to "investigate" and "punish the vandals". "Their impunity - he added - inevitably causes new manifestations of ethnic and religious hatred."

 

• russia
• jewish
• congress
• interfaith
• dialogue
• nationalism
• anti-semitic
• attacks