Eye on the Middle East Feb/Mar 1999
Jewish people who are questioning if they should leave Russia and join their kinsmen who have made the exodus to Israel or other countries would do well to exit while they can.
Less than a decade after the Soviet era of discrimination against Jews was abolished, Russia is being plagued by an ugly spate of grass-roots anti-Semitism. Among those dredging up the old animosity is yet another prominent Russian Communist lawmaker, Albert Makashov. He has attacked Jews in writing by saying that they control the world’s economic system. Such a statement is extremely inflammatory, given the state of Russia’s current economic debacle.
Makashov also marches regularly in anti-Semitic demonstrations.
As has been true in Russia since the days of the Czars, Jews have been fingered as culprits when the country is in trouble. This new tide of looking for someone to blame does not appear to make life in that unstable country look promising for children of Abraham.
