Russian Chief Rabbi accuses senior defence official of antisemitism
Berel Lazar levelled the antisemitism accusation at Aleksey Pavlov, the secretary of the Security Council of Russia in connection with the war in Ukraine.
A Chief Rabbi of Russia has accused a senior defence official of antisemitic hate speech in connection with the war in Ukraine, as a spokesperson for the rabbi warned of the onset of “a new era in Russia’s relations with Jews.”
Berel Lazar, one of Russia’s two chief rabbis, on Wednesday levelled the antisemitism accusation at Aleksey Pavlov, the secretary of the Security Council of Russia, a government committee of experts. In a column in the Argumenty i Fakty weekly newspaper, Pavlov spoke of the need to perform “desatanization” in Ukraine, which Pavlov claimed had hundreds of neo-pagan cults. He included “the Chabad-Lubavitch sect,” as Pavlov called it, on a list of various religious groups that he claimed prove his point.
Rabbi Boruch Gorin, the senior-most spokesperson for Lazar, on Wednesday wrote on Facebook that Pavlov’s words went farther than Stalinist propaganda in the 1930s and that he feared that the remark “will go down in history as beginning of a new era in Russia’s relations with Jews.”
Lazar’s office responded to the column with an open letter to unspecified “authorities” in Russia, calling Pavlov’s column “a piece of vulgar antisemitism.” In it, Lazar, whose group has been walking a political tightrope since Russia’s February invasion into Ukraine, said that Russian Jews “demand an immediate, unambiguous response by society and state authorities“ to Pavlov’s statements, which Lazar also termed “dangerous.”
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
