FEOR - April 2002

The Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS

Statement of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia

The Russian Jewish community is deeply concerned about the situation in the Middle East.

For the past two years Israel has suffered from an unprecedented wave of Palestinian terrorism. More than 400 Israelis have been killed and several thousand wounded. In the last month alone 124 Jews became victims of Arab terrorists, the majority of them emigrants from the former USSR. Israel is on the verge of a war for its survival. No state in the world can leave the cold-blooded and systematic slaughter of its citizens unpunished.

Accordingly, Russia did not hesitate to initiate its anti-terrorist operation in Chechnya in the spring of 1999, after terrorist attacks in Moscow and Volgodonsk killed 222 people.

Today, Israel is employing the very same tactic. It is no different from similar operations in Chechnya or Afghanistan.

The Israeli government has done its best to implement a strategy of peaceful settlement. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has many times declared his commitment to the Tenet-Mitchell plan. Israeli forces were withdrawn from Palestinian regions, and Israeli security refrained from anti-terrorist activities despite continuing terrorist attacks.

The Palestinians responded by escalating the violence and killing, under the official approval of Palestinian authorities.

The so-called "wall of defense" operation is not aimed against the Palestinian autonomy, but at the destruction of the terrorist infrastructure and the isolation of its leader - Yasir Arafat, whose involvement has been officially proven.

That is why the position of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is rather astonishing, as expressed several days ago in Minister of Foreign Affairs Igor Ivanov's statement. Moreover, Sergei Ivanov, Minister of Defense, inveighed against Israeli actions in Bethlehem.

The Israeli army has not destroyed any buildings or sacred sites.

It is not the Israeli army but the Palestinians who have occupied Christian churches and taken hostages. It is terrorist fanatics and not Israeli soldiers who blow up innocent citizens in shops, restaurants and hotels, even on the holy Jewish holiday of Passover. Today, Arab terrorist ideologues continue to recruit new suicide bombers among the Palestinian youth.

The Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia asserts that there cannot be a double standard when it comes to terrorists. It is impossible to fight terrorism with one hand and rescue them from fair punishment with the other. Moreover, the victims are primarily Russian citizens, who as fate willed it, have moved to Israel and now are being killed in the Middle East.

Israel's war on terrorism is part of the global fight against terrorism that all of civilized society is waging today. It is not a war against the Palestinians.

It is evident that the problem of suicide-terrorism now threatens the entire world. The Russian army encountered it in Chechnya, as did the United States on September 11th, 2001.

Yasir Arafat's involvement in terrorist attacks in Israel has been documented and amply demonstrated. He is the virtual leader of the terrorist coalition and an enemy of the entire free world. Hundreds if not thousands of innocent deaths are on his conscience.

Thus we are calling upon the governments of Russia, the United States and other members of the anti-terror coalition to do their best to support the fight against terrorism in the Middle East.

War unfortunately means suffering, blood and devastation. But the current conflict in the Middle East is Israel's answer to non-stop violations.

The Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia is asking the Russian Orthodox Church to understand the delicate situation involving Russian Church property in Palestinian-controlled areas. We are sure that all claims to the Israeli government will be satisfied, and we are ready to act as mediators on these issues. Israeli soldiers will never enter Orthodox places of worship!

The war against terrorism in the Middle East, Chechnya and Afghanistan is justified and fair. It is a war for the survival of civilization and democracy.

All peoples, of all creeds and political convictions, must unite their efforts in the fight against the universal evil of political extremism!