BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

18/10/2007

Israeli Ambassador Surprised By Belarusian President's Remarks About Jews

Israeli Ambassador to Belarus Zeev Ben Arie told journalists in Minsk on October 17 that he was surprised by President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's remarks about Jews last week, Belapan and RFE/RL's Belarus Service reported. While talking to a group of Russian journalists in Minsk on October 12 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," October 15, 2007), Lukashenka blamed Jewish residents for turning a Belarusian city into a "pigsty." "If you were in Babruysk, you saw in what condition the city was. Entering it was a fearful experience! It was a pigsty! This was mainly a Jewish city. Well, you know how Jews treat the place where they're living. Look at Israel," Lukashenka said. The Israeli ambassador said Lukashenka's words are reminiscent of "the anti-Semitic myth depicting Jews as untidy, dirty, smelly people." Ben Arie added that he hopes that "municipal and social services" in Belarus will one day match Israel's level. Referring to a recent vandal attack on a Jewish cemetery in Babruysk, and anti-Semitic graffiti on a building in Slutsk, Ben Arie expressed hope that "in Belarus, on whose land one of Europe's biggest Jewish communities was nearly entirely destroyed at the hands of the Nazis and their henchmen, they will [start to] devote more attention to manifestations of anti-Semitism and refrain from any remarks that may encourage such regrettable phenomena." According to Belarus's 1999 census, the population of 250,000 in Babruysk includes 4,000 Jews. JM

Source:

http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2007/10/3-cee/cee-181007.asp