Temporary weather changes or geopolitical uncertainty in Russian Jewish communities - Opinion

A cascade of recent events has raised challenging questions unfolding against the backdrop of Israel's war with the terrorist organization Hamas. This war began on October 7, 2023, with a brutal terrorist attack on Israel. As of October 29, 2023, the toll stands at 1,400 lives lost, 239 individuals taken hostage, 5,132 wounded, and a staggering 8,000 rockets launched across the country. In the Russian-Jewish segment of social media, there have been abundant discussions on the relationship between Israel and Russia, paralleling coverage in the Russian press and social media.

On October 21, 2023, the widely circulated Russian newspaper Moskovskij Komsomolets  (MK) published a starkly anti-Israel and antisemitic article under the headline, "A Professional Patriot Chooses His Homeland." The article was prompted by a video interview featuring political analyst and Middle East expert  Yevgeny Satanovsky, former President of the Russian Jewish Congress. His interview led to his dismissal from a major Russian TV channel due to offensive remarks targeting Russian officials Mikhail Bogdanov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Maria Zakharova, official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Director of the Department of Information and Press.

The author of the article, prominent journalist Dmitry Popov, asserts, "Bogdanov and Zakharova express the official position of the Russian Federation, condemning Israel's clearly disproportionate response to a terrorist attack. This has resulted in the loss of hundreds of innocent civilians and the destruction of residential homes, hospitals, churches, and mosques. It is worth noting that Israel is a steadfast ally of our primary geopolitical adversary." Popov concludes his piece by insinuating that Jews may not hold unwavering loyalty to Russia and warns of increasing tension: "Satanovsky is not the first to choose his homeland. Nor will he be the last - the conflict has not yet reached its full intensity. There will be more 'coming out' moments."

In this article from a publication aimed at the broadest audience, Russia's position regarding the "disproportionate Israeli response to terror" is candidly stated. It is a position that has been consistent with Russia's official foreign ministry statements and declarations. Nevertheless, such publicized positions, openly critical of Israel's interests from Russian media outlets, are not easily recalled since the days of the Soviet Union when antisemitism and anti-Zionism were integral components of state policy.

Sergey Markov, Russian political analyst and diplomat, commented on the story. He observed an "ethnic bias on a massive scale" in the leading TV program, where Satanovsky appeared as an expert. He pointed out that "many experts fail to strike a balance between Russia or their ethnic identity." Additionally, he stated that "Russia's relations with Israel are deteriorating."

The article in Moskovskij Komsomolets cannot be dismissed as a random wave in Russia's political ocean. During the Eastern Economic Forum on September 12, 2023, President Vladimir Putin alluded to prominent Russian figures who have relocated to Israel. When discussing the former Vice Premier of the Russian Federation during Boris Yeltsin's presidency, Anatoly Chubais, and his role as ex-head of RAO UES of Russia and Rosnano,  the Russian state-established and funded company,  as well as a special envoy to the President until 2022, President Putin mentioned, "Why does Anatoly Borisovich hide there for some reason? They showed me some photo from the internet where he is no longer Anatoly Borisovich Chubais but some Moishe Izrailevich living there. Why does he do this? He ran away…" Apart from hinting at irregular financial behavior, those who grew up in the USSR interpreted the President's words as caricatural antisemitic references, reminiscent of the satirical magazine "Krokodil" and people's jokes about Moishe, Abram, and Sarah during the era of state-sanctioned antisemitism between the 1960s and 1980s.

In evaluating Arkady Volozh, co-founder of Yandex, President Putin took an unexpected and, in our view, more alarming angle. Supposedly, Volozh is "compelled to make certain statements" to live in Israel "at a good level and maintain good relations with the authorities." The President's statement was interpreted as an accusation against Israeli authorities, who have faced criticism for insufficient support for Ukraine and pro-Russian sympathies over the past year.

The strain in Russian-Israeli relations reached its zenith when, on October 26, 2023, news broke of a visit to Moscow by a delegation from Hamas, led by a member of the organization's politburo, Abu Marzouk. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared, "Hamas is a terrorist organization worse than the Islamic State (ISIS) (banned in Russia). [...] Israel views the invitation of senior Hamas officials to Moscow as an inappropriate move that supports terrorism and legitimizes the atrocities of Hamas terrorists." Russia's Ambassador to Israel, Anatoly Viktorov, was summoned to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he was informed that "Israel takes very seriously Moscow's lack of unambiguous and clear condemnation of the terrorist organization Hamas and Russia's actions in international organizations."

The visit by Hamas leaders, who bear direct responsibility for the bloody attack on October 7, the hostage-taking, and the deaths of over 1,400 Israelis, creates an impression of legitimizing terrorism against Israelis.

Anti-Israel rhetoric in Russia, including the statements of senior officials, has already led to mass street protests in several regions, demands to cancel flights from Israel, and searches in hotels to find Jews and Israelis allegedly staying there.

"Practically the entire world doesn't want to hear the voices of Palestinian children who are victims of Israeli aggression... Israeli fascism is as cruel towards Palestine as, if not more so, than Hitler's," declared Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of the Chechen Republic and a Lieutenant General in the Russian army, in a statement on his TV channel.

It is clear that Russian-Israeli relations have chilled significantly, which is impacting the status of Jews in Russia. It is not yet possible, in our view, to declare the institutionalization of state antisemitism, as practiced in the Soviet Union. It is crucial to note the increased injection of negative Jewish themes into the public information sphere and the normalized readiness to discuss the "Jewish question" negatively in both state media and social networks. The green light for such impulses stems from the most influential state and quasi-state sources in the Russian Federation.

How these aforementioned trends will develop, considering significant changes in the structure of the Jewish community and the mass migration of Jewish populations, including repatriation to Israel, in the midst of a severe geopolitical crisis and global terrorist threats, remains to be seen. Predicting the future development of these events is challenging.