Jews slam Belarus for ignoring anti-Semitism

  • 2002-08-01
  • Agence France Presse, MINSK
With Israeli officials in Belarus for the first time since the ex-Soviet republic became independent, a local Jewish group has accused authorities of tolerating a growing wave of anti-Semitism.

Leonid Levin, president of the Association of Belarusian Jews, said he had written to the Prosecutor General's Office and to the presidency to demand police action against those responsible for the desecration of graves and other anti-Semitic attacks.

At least 26 Jewish graves in Minsk's Northern Cemetery were vandalized recently and more than 27 in the city's Eastern Cemetery, Levin said.

The accusations came as David Peleg, a senior official in the Israeli Foreign Ministry, arrived in Minsk July 29 for two days of talks with Belarusian Foreign Minister Mikhail Khvostov and other officials.

Talks were to cover political, economic and cultural relations, as well as the threat of terrorism and the Middle East situation, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said.

It was unclear whether Peleg would take up the accusations made by Levin.

"This vandalism, part of a rising tide of anti-Semitism in Belarus, is outrageous. These are not isolated incidents and do not happen only in Minsk" Levin said.

"We cannot speak of state-sponsored anti-Semitism, which would see Jews barred from universities and quotas, but we are concerned about the anti-Jewish statements on radio and television and the publication of anti-Semitic books.

"So far, no one from the government has taken the slightest notice or reacted in any way," he added.

President Alexander Lukashenko's press spokeswoman said the government was aware of the incidents, but it was up to law enforcement agencies to decide whether to launch criminal investigations.

Belarus was a key Jewish cultural center at the beginning of the 20th century. There were around 120,000 Jews in Belarus when the former Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

Most have since emigrated, and today only some 28,000 remain, according to official data.