Press Release - 08.01.2002

 

NCSJ: Russian Anti-Semitism Is No Joke

August 1, 2002 – NCSJ today refuted a statement by Moscow regional police, as quoted by the Associated Press, that a mock booby-trapped sign with an anti-Semitic message was ”a practical joke”. 

Responding to the statement by police spokesman Farid Khasanov, NCSJ Chairman Harold Paul Luks said, “This is no practical joke in a part of the world with a long and recent history of popular anti-Semitism.  Until all levels of law enforcement and Russian society take such signs seriously in their public statements and official actions, anti-Semitism will remain a dangerous trend.”

According to NCSJ President Robert J. Meth, “These are not isolated incidents, and the signs with phony booby traps are part of an alarming pattern of behavior in which anti-Semitic signs are attached to real or dummy explosives.  One courageous woman, Tatiana Sapunova, was already injured by an exploding sign on May 27.  A climate of fear in your country is no joke.” 

NCSJ Executive Director Mark Levin said, “We call on Russian government and law enforcement officials to bring to justice those responsible for these signs and to publicly condemn such acts for what they are – serious anti-Semitism.  This is not the first time a police official has acted dismissively toward anti-Semitism, but we expect it to be the last.” 

On May 30, a high-ranking Russian police official was quoted in Izvestiya claiming that “from a formal point of view, the slogan 'Death to Kikes' is not an attempt to ignite ethnic strife.”  NCSJ is in close contact with Russian and U.S. officials as well as community leaders.  The following is a list of recent incidents in Russia:

• May 27:  A sign reading “Death to Yids,” rigged with a homemade bomb, exploded when a Muscovite woman tried to remove the sign from the side of the Moscow ring road.  The woman sustained serious injuries from the blast.
  

• June 5-6:  Three anti-Semitic signs similar to that found in Moscow in late May, but rigged with dummy explosives, were discovered in the city of Voronezh. 
  

• June 16:  A sign reading “Death to Yids,” rigged with dummy explosives, was discovered on the Moscow ring road. 
  

• July 28: A pipe bomb with the words “Death to Yids” was thrown onto the balcony of a Moscow apartment building.  The blast blew out many of the building’s windows, but no injuries were reported.
  

• July 30: A sign with an anti-Semitic slogan attached to a fake bomb was found just north of Moscow.  Police brought out dogs to check what looked like an explosive device attached to the poster but found no bomb, according to the Associated Press.  A spokesman for the Moscow regional police called the poster "a practical joke."
  

• July 31:  A box bearing an anti-Semitic slogan was found in front of a Moscow maternity hospital.  Police sappers determined that the box did not contain explosives and have labeled this and recent similar incidents “hooliganism.”  

NCSJ: Advocates on behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States & Eurasia – a voluntary, not-for-profit agency created in 1971, is the mandated central coordinating agency of the organized American Jewish community for policy and activities on behalf of the estimated 1.5 million Jews in the former Soviet Union. NCSJ comprises nearly 50 national organizations and over 300 local federations, community councils and committees across the United States. Through this extensive network, NCSJ mobilizes the resources, energies and talents of millions of U.S. citizens, and also represents the American Jewish community in dealings with similar national groups abroad, and at international fora.

#  #  #