|
|
 | |
| LETTERS FROM EUROPE | Back to >>
Europe Today |
Letter from Moscow - Steve Rosenberg on the changing relationship between Russia and Israel. (Tuesday, 09 April, 2002, 11:44 GMT)
I can still remember my very first visit to Moscow's central synagogue. It was on a hot summer's day back in 1987. I was on a tour of the Russian capital and, having lost my way, I stopped a man in the street to ask directions.
I was astonished by the reply: "You're a Jew aren't you?" he whispered. I nodded. "So am I" he said softly - breaking into a nervous smile - then he invited me to walk with him up the hill. Five minutes later we were standing outside the synagogue gates.
What struck me most was the fear in Ilya's eyes. He asked me not to tell a soul that he'd brought me here. He said he could lose his job, that the Soviet authorities frowned upon those who came to synagogue -- on anyone, in fact, who practised their religion.
We went inside. Ilya continued to whisper : he told me all about anti-semitism in Russia, about state quotas for Jews at universities and in the workplace. Communism - he said - identified Israel as the enemy; the USSR openly supported Arab nations.
I don't know what became of Ilya. Maybe - like so many Russian Jews - he left for Israel when the Iron Curtain began to open.
I do know what happened to Russia. Fifteen years on, this country appears to have turned 180 degrees: today the Kremlin firmly denounces anti-semitism ; only recently President Putin received Russia's Chief Rabbi and congratulated him on the festival of Passover.
Jewish life is being allowed to flourish. Jewish schools, clubs and synagogues have opened up in towns across the country. Jewish businessmen run some of the country's top companies. Israel is no longer singled out as the Zionist foe, the ideological enemy - with so many Russian Jews having emigrated to the promised land, Russia has found it now has more in common with Israel than ever before.
The ties are not only social, they're cultural and financial: business has been booming between the two countries. Attitudes to the Arab world have changed too - partly as a result of the war in Chechnya. Israel's claim that it's fighting a war on terrorism strikes a chord with many here in Russia.
But Moscow hasn't lost sight of Arab states, and there's talk of boosting friendship with Iran -- much to the annoyance of America. Then there's Iraq - Russia maintains economic interests there, too. In other words, Moscow is trying to keep all its options open. Friendship with Israel has proved beneficial over the last ten years, but it is by no means permanent - should events change, should the current conflict in the Middle East worsen, Russia may well re-examine just where its sympathies lie.
For Europe Today this is Steve Rosenberg in Moscow.
More from our postbox >>
|
|
Europewide debate
France: Easier to sack workers?
People and Peaks
'Ich bin ein Czech'
Network Europe
The New Europe
Frequencies and Schedules
On the road
|
