During an interview on the Russian television channel '24 Rossiya', Russian writer Alexander Prokhonov said, reflecting the increasingly divisive attitude toward Jews in Europe: "The Jews brought the Holocaust upon themselves." His words, beyond the shocking sentiment, arouse the anger of Jewish communities in Europe and beyond.
The journalist who conducted the interview, Evelina Zakamsky, interviewed the hawkish writer Alexander Prokhonov, during which Prokhonov said that "it is strange that Jewish organizations - in Russia and Europe - support the Maidan [Independence Square in Kiev - N.O.]. What are they doing?" He wondered, "Don't they understand that with their own hands they are bringing about a second Holocaust?""
Evelina immediately answered him: "And this wouldn't be the first time they brought her either.".
Proknov cooperated and continued her words: "This is an amazing blindness that is repeating itself again. Until 1933, many liberal European organizations fed the Fuhrer.".
The words spoken during the interview reflected a precedent-setting reality at a time when Russia is sitting on a barrel of explosives, and therefore caused a stir not only in Europe, but also in the news in the United States. However, some Jewish organizations in Ukraine said that they did not need protection and that they did not feel persecuted, while others, outside the country, expressed concern. Rabbi Yaakov Bleich, one of the rabbis of Ukraine, demanded that the Russian authorities stop labeling the leaders of the Ukrainian protest as fascists.
America's special envoy to combat anti-Semitism, Ira Forman, rejected claims from the Russian side that the revolution in Ukraine promoted the spread of anti-Jewish views in the region. French author Bernard Levy also went out of his way to refute the Kremlin's propaganda that the protest on Kiev's Independence Square (Maidan) marks the return of fascism in Europe.
A few months ago, an Israeli media outlet broadcasting in Russian conducted a survey asking the question: "Did European Jews cause the Holocaust?" The answers to the survey were not surprising: 91% of the channel's viewers who responded to the survey believed that European Jews did not cause the Holocaust, while 9% responded in the affirmative.
Either way, it seems that Russia will continue its attempt to legitimize its takeover of the Crimean Peninsula by claiming that it came to protect Jews in Ukraine from anti-Semitism, while on the part of Jews in Ukraine, it seems that there will continue to be insistence that they "do not need protection from a threat that has not even arisen.".
Join the Haredim 10 Facebook page >>
Join the X page of Haredim 10 >>
Want more news, videos and stories? Join the Haredim 10 WhatsApp channel >>
