The recent visit to
Israel by Russian President Vladimir Putin represents yet another
example of the extraordinary and unpredictable events continuously
impacting Israel and the Jewish people.
Putin’s presence in the
Jewish state revived memories of my involvement in the Soviet Jewry
struggle, which was the central focus of my public life for many years.
Recruited as a young man by Shaul Avigur, the Israeli prime minister’s
coordinator of the Soviet Jewry campaign, I was engaged in activities
ranging from persuading the Australian government to become the first
country in the world to raise the plight of Soviet Jewry at the U.N. to
writing a book based on Soviet sources exposing state-sponsored
anti-Semitism, which led to divisions among Western communists.
The climax of my
involvement was during 1978 to 1980, when my company was designated to
handle travel arrangements for the Australian team at the Moscow
Olympics, thus obliging the Soviets to provide me with entry visas which
had been denied until then.
Thanks to the personal
interventions of the Australian prime minister, in between official
Soviet meetings, I was ferried in embassy cars to the homes of the key
Jewish dissidents, known as refuseniks, and engaged them in regular
intensive discussions. This terminated abruptly when Australia joined
the Olympic boycott. I was arrested and charged with espionage for
liaisons with refuseniks who allegedly “had access to state security
secrets.” I was ultimately expelled and threatened with imprisonment
should I ever set foot again on Soviet soil.
Yet in 1987, seven
years later, I was invited by the KGB-controlled Moscow Arkhipova
Synagogue to be its guest over Rosh Hashanah, and I was permitted to
give Zionist addresses in my faltering Yiddish from the pulpit.
This subsequently led
to the establishment of the first Jewish cultural center since the
revolution, a center which was named after Solomon Mykhoels, the
renowned Yiddish poet murdered by Stalin in 1948, and the first Hebrew
song festivals in municipal theaters in both Moscow and Leningrad. The
sight of theaters packed with of Jews of all ages, tears streaming down
their eyes as they heard Yaffa Yarkoni and Dudu Fisher singing Israeli
songs, remains permanently seared into my memory.
In June 2012, Jerusalem
streets were festooned with Russian flags. U.S. President Barack Obama,
who went to Cairo shortly after his election, has yet to visit Israel.
Yet Putin, who had already visited Israel in 2005, again included Israel
in his first overseas trip immediately following his election. He was
accompanied by a huge contingent including Russian businessmen, Jewish
oligarchs and Chabad Chief Rabbi Berl Lazar.
Putin was the keynote
speaker at the inauguration of an exhibition in Netanya commemorating
the role of the Red Army in the victory against Nazism. He spoke warmly
about Israel, expressing pride that the Jewish state contained the
largest diaspora of former Soviet citizens.
Just a block away from
my home, Putin was feted at the residence of Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, followed by a banquet with President Shimon Peres. He also
met a number of former Soviet citizens who are now Israeli government
ministers, including Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Yuli
Edelstein, one of the younger refuseniks I befriended during my Moscow
visits.
Putin seemed nonplussed
even when it was clear that he was outraging his Arab allies. There was
talk of increased Russian purchases of defense equipment from Israel — a
contrast to the far Left calls for boycotts against Israel.
Putin visited the
Western Wall wearing a yarmulke and accompanied by Rabbi Lazar – an act
which must have made his Bolshevik predecessors turn in their graves.
This also infuriated radical Muslim groups, especially the extremist
Israeli Islamic Movement, whose spokesman stated that the “Russian bear,
which licks the blood of our relatives in Syria,” had adopted an
approach “that sucked up to the Israeli establishment at any cost.”
When my mind flashes
back to the Soviet Jewry protest movement and in particular to my visits
to Moscow, the Putin visit seems utterly surrealistic. I recall
conversations in Moscow with refuseniks like Vladimir Slepak, the late
Professor Alexander Lerner, Yosef Begun, Pavel Abramovich, Vladimir
Prestin and many others. Never in our wildest dreams could we have
visualized that one day, we would all be living together in Israel and
witnessing the visit of a former senior KGB officer who had become the
president of Russia.
However, this should
not lead us to conclude that the autocratic Putin has become a devoted
ally of Israel and the Jewish people. We must remind ourselves that
despite warm words, he heads a country which has ties and provides
weapons to some of our greatest enemies, including Iran and Syria. He
also tends to support the Palestinian position, both as a member of the
Quartet and at the U.N., and has reiterated this to Palestinian
Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem.
Indeed, many doubt
whether, if Israel’s survival represented an obstacle to Russia's
short-term strategic or national interests, he would lift a finger on
our behalf. But it is equally clear, that in contrast to all the
Kremlin's leaders from Stalin to Gorbachev, Putin is certainly not a
committed anti-Semite. Despite the endemic anti-Semitism prevailing in
Russia and a very hostile Russian Orthodox Church, many of whose
prelates still retain a medieval concept portraying the Jews as Christ
killers, Putin seems entirely indifferent to Jews. That sharply
differentiates him from his communist predecessors who hated us
passionately and actively encouraged our enemies to strive toward our
destruction.
Indeed, it would seem
that Putin probably has genuine affection for a country that includes so
many of his former citizens. No doubt without admitting it, he probably
also recognizes that like Israel, Russia faces threats from Islamic
fundamentalists and has strained relations with Turkey.
His visit to Israel
unquestionably sends clear signals. Even recognizing major divergence of
policies in relation to Iran and Syria, and that Putin’s tensions with
the U.S. and interests in the Arab world preclude us from considering
him a partner, it sends a message to the Arabs that Russia is not an
enthusiastic ally in their efforts to undermine the Jewish state.
Mindful of the fact
that not so long ago a few hundred Soviet Jews backed by Western Jews
played a major role in bringing about the downfall of the Evil Empire,
our current relationship with Russia is a most extraordinary positive
development in the ever-changing panorama of Jewish civilization.
Russia is a far cry
from a Western democracy, but it is also not comparable to the former
Soviet totalitarian regime and is less authoritarian than the Chinese
communist model. Like any nation state, particularly one under siege, we
are obliged to indulge in some forms of realpolitik to protect our
national interests. We should therefore welcome the easing of tensions
and establishment of diplomatic ties and seek to strengthen the
relationship with Russia — as long as we do so with our eyes wide open.
No comments:
Post a Comment