Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met yesterday afternoon with a delegation representing Russian Jewry, led by Rabbi Berel Lazar, Chief Rabbi of Russia, and Governor Levi Leviev, President of the Union of Jewish Communities in the Commonwealth of Nations.
The delegation sought to convey, through the Prime Minister, a message of support for the people of Israel, against the backdrop of the wave of terror currently sweeping the streets of Israel.
At the beginning of the meeting, Leviev told the Prime Minister: "This delegation is arriving precisely these days, in order to broadcast to the entire world that now is precisely the time to come and visit the Land of Israel, the safest place in the world.".
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Chief Rabbi Lazar added: "We have come at this difficult time to strengthen the people living in the Holy Land. All of Russian Jewry is praying for your well-being, and we have come to tell you about this and to strengthen your hands.".
The delegation visited the holy places in recent days and offered prayers there.
Among other things, the delegation visited Rachel's Tomb near Bethlehem, the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, and the Western Wall. Also, as part of their visit, the members of the delegation met and shook hands with soldiers involved in quelling disturbances. The delegation's visit was organized and produced by Fleischmann Ples VIP.
The delegation included fifty city rabbis from all over Russia, community leaders and heads, as well as businessmen, from, among others, the cities of Rostov, Kaliningrad, Omsk, Krasnoyarsk, Smolensk, Samara, Tomsk, Saratov, Khabarovsk, Krasnodar, Sochi, St. Petersburg, Ufa, Moscow, Novorossiysk and the city of Veliky Novgorod.
These are communities spread from Russia's Arab border with Poland to Russia's border with Japan.
The Prime Minister thanked the members of the delegation for their visit and said: "Levi Leviev, President of the Union of Jewish Communities in the Commonwealth of Nations, the work you are doing to strengthen Jewish identity, our heritage, the connection to Israel, Jewish education, is very important.
""I would also like to thank Mikhail Mirilashvili for joining these efforts and all of you led by the Chief Rabbi of Russia, Rabbi Berel Lazar.".
In connection with the security situation, the Prime Minister said: "The struggle is not about this or that political border, as some of our innocent friends say and as our enemies say. That is not true. It is not about territory, it is not about settlements, it is about a border, it is not about their struggle to receive a state - it is about the denial of our state, the denial of any Jewish sovereignty in any part of the Land of Israel. Period. That is what the struggle is about, and nothing else.".
