Rabbi Attacked in Moscow - 01.18.2005

Rabbi Alexander Lakshin Attacked in Moscow



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NCSJ Press Release


Ha'aretz/AP


JTA


RIA Novosti

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 Press Release - 01.18.2005

NCSJ Calls on Russian Government to Respond to Recent Anti-Semitic Wave of Attacks

Contact: Mark Levin/Lesley Weiss, NCSJ (202-898-2500)

Washington, D.C. – NCSJ condemned the vicious anti-Semitic attack in Moscow on Rabbi Alexander Lakshin, President of Magen League, an anti-missionary program, and called on Russian authorities to take immediate action to apprehend the perpetrators and address the increasing number of attacks against Jews.

On January 14, while walking in the Marina Roscha neighborhood with a small group including two children, Rabbi Lakshin was attacked by a group of young men who shouted “kikes” and other anti-Semitic slurs. He suffered head and back injuries and multiple wounds. The rest of the group escaped unharmed. This incident is the latest in a series of targeted attacks against Jews in neighborhoods around synagogues and community centers in Moscow.

Robert J. Meth, NCSJ Chairman, called on the Russian government to publicly condemn these attacks and aggressively pursue the perpetrators. “ The growing problem of ultra nationalist xenophobic groups and violent anti-Semitic hate crimes must be addressed immediately,” he said. 

“These attacks reinforce what was recently highlighted in the U.S. State Department Report on Global Anti-Semitism, that even though the Russian government does not support anti-Semitism, it does not take any active steps to oppose it,” said Joel M. Schindler, NCSJ President. 

“With the number of skinheads in Russia over 50,000, and the number of violent anti-Semitic attacks on the rise, we urge the Russian government to make fighting extremism a high priority,” said Mark B. Levin, NCSJ Executive Director.

NCSJ: Advocates on behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States & Eurasia, a voluntary, non-profit agency created in 1971, is the mandated central coordinating agency of the organized Jewish community for policy and activities on behalf of the estimated 1.5 million Jews in the former Soviet Union.

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 Ha'aretz/AP - 01.18.2005

Ha'aretz

Rabbi: Moscow attack reflects Russia's anti-Semitism

By The Associated Press

A rabbi who was attacked and beaten in Moscow last week said Tuesday that the assault was clearly anti-Semitic and reflected rising racism and xenophobia in Russia.

Rabbi Alexander Lakshin said he was walking in a pedestrian underpass near central Moscow late Friday with another rabbi and two young boys - the other man's brothers-in-law - when they saw a group of people running toward them.

"I told the kids, 'Run for your life!"' Lakshin told Associated Press Television News. He said he and the other man each grabbed one of the boys and started to run, but that their assailants reached them near the end of the underpass. 

The other rabbi managed to run away with the kid, but Lakshin did not, he said.

"I felt a strong kick in the back and I realized that they got us, so I pushed the kid forward. And then they pushed me on the ground and ... there were at least six people ... beating me with their legs and bottles," he said. "And then I got hit with a bottle on the forehead and blood was streaming, but I managed to get up and to run out of this underpass."

The boy with Lakshin wasn't beaten. When they reached the street, there were people there "but no one interfered - called the police or did anything," Lakshin said bitterly. He said he and his companions went into a nearby 24-hour store and asked employees to call the police. "But they didn't, their concern was to get us out as soon as possible, they said the blood was dripping all over."

Lakshin, a soft-spoken man with his arm in a cast and a small bandage over a bruise on his forehead, said the attackers did not demand money or valuables.

"It was a purely anti-Semitic (act), I don't have the slightest doubt," he said. He said that xenophobia is on the rise in Russia, reflected in attacks on Jews, black Africans and dark-skinned people from the former Soviet republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus Mountains.

"Any person who looks different or dresses differently is under threat," he said.

According to the Interfax news agency, Russia's chief rabbi, Berel Lazar, said in a statement that the rabbis were wearing the clothing of religious Jews when they were attacked, and that there have been numerous other attacks on Jews in the same neighborhood, which is the site of one of Moscow's synagogues.

Lazar criticized authorities for treating race-based crimes as hooliganism, a charge often applied by prosecutors investing attacks that victims and human rights groups say are motivated by bias.

Lakshin said, "It's a horrible feeling to realize that in the country that paid such a dear price to defeat Nazi Germany, three generations after the war is over there are still many young people who openly demonstrate their  adherence to the Nazi ideology."

Top Jewish leaders in Russia have largely praised the efforts of President Vladimir Putin's government in encouraging religious tolerance, but rights groups accuse Russian authorities of failing to adequately prosecute the 
perpetrators.

The Foreign Ministry last week criticized a U.S. State Department report on anti-Semitism around the world, saying its statements about Russia were condescending and in some cases baselessly accusatory.  

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 JTA - 01.18.2005

Rabbi attacked in Moscow

(JTA) -- Moscow Jews were shocked by anti-Semitic attacks against Chasidic Jews. 

Last week’s attacks occurred in the Marina Roscha neighborhood, just outside the city center, home to Moscow’s largest Jewish facility. Alexander Lakshin, the rabbi who is spearheading the anti-missionary activities of the Russian Jewish community as president of the Magen League, was beaten by a group of youths who shouted “kikes” while kicking him and hitting him with bottles. Lakshin, who was born in St. Petersburg and who worked for the Jewish Community Relations Council in New York City, is recuperating in Moscow’s American Medical Center. He received multiple head injuries and a bone in his lower back was broken.

The doctors are describing his condition as stable. Two hours before that incident, an Orthodox couple was attacked in the same underground street crossing where Lakshin was beaten. The identities of the couple have not been disclosed yet.

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 RIA-Novosti - 01.18.2005

RUSSIA'S CHIEF RABBI URGES ENHANCED PROTECTION FOR ETHNIC MINORITIES 

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) - Russian chief rabbi Berl Lazar issued a statement on Tuesday in the wake of a brutal attack on several rabbis in Moscow calling on law enforcement agencies to step up measures to protect ethnic minorities. 

"The incident is a fresh example of disrespect for human life. Criminals attacked and beat up several men dressed like religious Jews. What is especially frightening is that they were not even deterred by the presence of children who thankfully managed to escape," said Mr. Lazar. 

"This anti-Semitic attack was one in a series of repeated attacks that occurred in the Maryina Roshcha district where the Moscow Jewish Community Center is located," Mr. Lazar said. 

"Therefore we feel we must demand and insist that law enforcement bodies take drastic measures to find and punish the attackers. We also hope law enforcers will ensure better protection for all ethnic minorities and thereby prevent such incidents in the future," said the chief rabbi. 

Mr. Lazar said anti-Semitic attacks had been treated as commonplace occurrences, above all, in European countries lately. 

Relevant criminal proceedings have been opened already, according to the press release the Moscow Prosecutor's Office issued Tuesday.

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