This is indeed a reminder that Israel NEEDS to exist, because without it, Jews are left at the mercy of the government of whatever other nation they might be in.
I am sorry, but some things in this article are simply not true.
For example
" echo of Russian antisemitism—Josef Stalin’s and then Leonid Brezhnev’s persecution of Jews—had not entirely receded."
Josef Stalin was not Russian but Georgian, Brezhnev was not Russian but Ukrainian.
Second - It masked Russia’s own, darker, fascistic impulses—which we are now seeing play out in Ukraine.
I disagree with what Russia is doing in Ukraine, but for god sake, Ukraine has literal Nazi units in it army, Azov battalion was using insignia of German SS. Stephan Bandera and his army, that committed numerus pogroms during WW2 is celebrated as heroes in Ukraine. Ukraine had to revoke Ambassador to Germany, because he was publicly praising Bander and his Army as great fighters (they literary did noting but kill Jews during WW2). He even has huge monument in Lviv https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepan_Bandera_monument_in_Lviv
The lesson, my friends, is that cozying up to any autocrat is a perilous balancing act - where you're always just a misstep away from catastrophe. The notion of Jewish prosperity under Putin was a Potemkin village - an illusion that could be snatched away in a second. As it has been. How many times has this lesson been taught but still unlearned?
Now we have our own autocrats in charge in DC, where the Biden crime syndicate prospers and is protected by their Stasi-like FBI and their sniveling little Beria wannabe, Merrick Garland. A nation governed by the rule of law with a Bill of Rights and equal protection ensured is a nation safe for everyone. We forget this at our peril.
Bad timing. With our security state politicized and out of control we need deeper dives on the problems in America. Raiding a former Presidents house? Unbelievable. We have serious problems right here, let’s investigate and shine a light on those.
I mean no offense, and Russia's Jews are tremendously important, but instead of Russia, we had better be focusing on what is happening - here - to OUR country, under our very noses. The Stasi just raided a former president's home, based on trumped-up (excuse the pun) pretenses of "investigation," pretenses themselves based on years of fruitless attempts to find a crime - any crime - to hang around the president's neck. Never mind that dump-truck loads of real crimes by the higher (highest!) members of the Stasi's party have gone un-"investigated" and ignored 24/7 for years. They are part and parcel of the very Swamp tasked with holding them to account.
We are on the verge of losing this republic, and while the plight of Russian Jewry is tremendously important, if our Nation is lost to the totalitarian Left, there won't be anybody left to defend the Jews or anyone else.
It's an excellent article ...thank you for publishing it. The common theme between the treatment of Jews in Russia and the treatment of President Trump by the current obamabiden thugs in the White House is that we can never trust people in positions of power. We are a constitutional republic because of that theme. The problem comes when we allow the massive violation of constitutional rights that has been going on since 2021 and when we allow the weaponization of government departments on a partisan basis against the people.
We need to support institutions not just people...as a Jew I have learned that a long time ago. President Trump is now basically the Jew in the political world being seen and used by the corrupt media as a target and scapegoat for all their complaints.
Very interesting. And the ending paragraphs seem to be a call to American Jews who have forsaken Israel.
If American Jews are predominantly with the democrat party, can the democrats be fascists even though they walk and talk and act like fascists? I guess it’s none so blind as those who cannot see.
I had planned to post today an article on the problems of Jews in Russia, but I decided to postpone it. The raid on Mar a Lago is an unprecedented event in America and an insult to our democracy. It shocks me, and I intend to get all the facts and present them to my readers. Right or left, this is not acceptable.
I have been a fan of Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt's writings for a long time and I accept that she has a personal attachment to this story. However, I am much more concerned about America ceasing to be a free and democrat republic based on a Constitution. The politicization of the IRS, the Justice Dep't, the Capitol police and more parts of government is extremely scary. This is not the time to focus on foreign countries or stratifying us into groups: women, men, Christians, Jews, atheists, rich, poor, heterosexual or homosexual. Every person with a moral compass is in danger if America continues down the path she is on. We Jews, like many people, often keep our eyes on the rear-view mirror (remember the Maginot Line?). Putin and Russia aren't the danger today as much as what is going on in America is.
This may tick off some folks here, but I've read through this entire article, and it sounds like pretty typical political repression of those seen to be aiding an enemy. While I'm sure there are some who are using that as a cloak simply because they hate Jews, there's not a lot of evidence of that in this article.
One of the things I've learned is to change the races of a story and see what I think of it. If there was a private agency in America that was coordinating the migration of American blacks to Liberia, and Liberia started actively supporting China against the US, and the US response was to raid the agency and charge its directors with violating the Foreign Registration Act... would you think that was racism? Or is it political repression?
Please understand, I'm not arguing that it's a good thing in either case. But it doesn't sound like religious or ethnic persecution (which is what antisemitism means, at least to me) but a basic political disagreement. Vladimir Putin is trying to hurt political opponents and dissenters. The fact that some of those dissenters are Jewish doesn't mean Putin hates Jews; it means Putin hates dissent. I certainly could be wrong in this assessment, but this article features a lot of "we fear it might get bad", but not much evidence that it actually is turning bad for Russian Jews -- because they're Jewish. It's appears to be turning bad for Russian dissenters of all stripes, but that's not antisemitic. That's typical authoritarian politics.
Israel is not a country. It is a “settler colony”. My Woke Masters have decreed it, so it must be so.
As I’ve told my Jewish friends, for decades, how does an ideology that guts the Rule of Law by creating a hierarchy of rights based on victimhood, and the victimhood is based on disparities in outcomes, not entrap a group that dramatically outperforms?
The Squad etc aren’t necessarily antisemitic as much as they are just consistent with their dangerous ideology. The ideology just disproportionately impacts successful groups, like Jews, Asians etc.
well, its better to be safe then sorry, if things really fall apart in Russia even if state sponsored anti-semitism doesn't fully take hold, there will be plenty of non state actors looking who will happily exploit hatred of Jews for their own benefit. And not for nothing this is one of the primary reasons Israel must always exists, as a harbor.
I absolutely love Israel and Jewish people and totally respect all that they have gone through.
I would like to simply point out that the America that saved the Jews in 1945 is now punishing its own 'dissidents'(patriots) in our own Gulag's(D.C.).
For the first time in history an American president - the one who finally moved our embassy to Jerusalem - has been raided by the Stasi(FBI).
The American UniParty is no different than Putin; at least Putin is rightly protecting his nation against the globalists. No, I am not saying Puting is a good man in any way.
Without America there is no Israel. Let the focus be on America right now.
Western civilization would be a very bland stew without the contributions of the Jewish people. The "slippery slope" that Jews face in Russia is taking shape here and in Europe as well; the persecutions and intolerance of the past have been largely ignored or forgotten and none of us will be richer for that selective amnesia.
This is indeed a reminder that Israel NEEDS to exist, because without it, Jews are left at the mercy of the government of whatever other nation they might be in.
I am sorry, but some things in this article are simply not true.
For example
" echo of Russian antisemitism—Josef Stalin’s and then Leonid Brezhnev’s persecution of Jews—had not entirely receded."
Josef Stalin was not Russian but Georgian, Brezhnev was not Russian but Ukrainian.
Second - It masked Russia’s own, darker, fascistic impulses—which we are now seeing play out in Ukraine.
I disagree with what Russia is doing in Ukraine, but for god sake, Ukraine has literal Nazi units in it army, Azov battalion was using insignia of German SS. Stephan Bandera and his army, that committed numerus pogroms during WW2 is celebrated as heroes in Ukraine. Ukraine had to revoke Ambassador to Germany, because he was publicly praising Bander and his Army as great fighters (they literary did noting but kill Jews during WW2). He even has huge monument in Lviv https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepan_Bandera_monument_in_Lviv
https://forward.com/news/462916/nazi-collaborator-monuments-in-ukraine/
World is not black and white, this is especially true for Eastern Europe.
The lesson, my friends, is that cozying up to any autocrat is a perilous balancing act - where you're always just a misstep away from catastrophe. The notion of Jewish prosperity under Putin was a Potemkin village - an illusion that could be snatched away in a second. As it has been. How many times has this lesson been taught but still unlearned?
Now we have our own autocrats in charge in DC, where the Biden crime syndicate prospers and is protected by their Stasi-like FBI and their sniveling little Beria wannabe, Merrick Garland. A nation governed by the rule of law with a Bill of Rights and equal protection ensured is a nation safe for everyone. We forget this at our peril.
Bad timing. With our security state politicized and out of control we need deeper dives on the problems in America. Raiding a former Presidents house? Unbelievable. We have serious problems right here, let’s investigate and shine a light on those.
I mean no offense, and Russia's Jews are tremendously important, but instead of Russia, we had better be focusing on what is happening - here - to OUR country, under our very noses. The Stasi just raided a former president's home, based on trumped-up (excuse the pun) pretenses of "investigation," pretenses themselves based on years of fruitless attempts to find a crime - any crime - to hang around the president's neck. Never mind that dump-truck loads of real crimes by the higher (highest!) members of the Stasi's party have gone un-"investigated" and ignored 24/7 for years. They are part and parcel of the very Swamp tasked with holding them to account.
We are on the verge of losing this republic, and while the plight of Russian Jewry is tremendously important, if our Nation is lost to the totalitarian Left, there won't be anybody left to defend the Jews or anyone else.
It's an excellent article ...thank you for publishing it. The common theme between the treatment of Jews in Russia and the treatment of President Trump by the current obamabiden thugs in the White House is that we can never trust people in positions of power. We are a constitutional republic because of that theme. The problem comes when we allow the massive violation of constitutional rights that has been going on since 2021 and when we allow the weaponization of government departments on a partisan basis against the people.
We need to support institutions not just people...as a Jew I have learned that a long time ago. President Trump is now basically the Jew in the political world being seen and used by the corrupt media as a target and scapegoat for all their complaints.
Very interesting. And the ending paragraphs seem to be a call to American Jews who have forsaken Israel.
If American Jews are predominantly with the democrat party, can the democrats be fascists even though they walk and talk and act like fascists? I guess it’s none so blind as those who cannot see.
The raid on Trump's Florida address is simply insane. It is one step closer to bringing this country into a civil war.
Here is what Bari could have written—
Dear Readers,
I had planned to post today an article on the problems of Jews in Russia, but I decided to postpone it. The raid on Mar a Lago is an unprecedented event in America and an insult to our democracy. It shocks me, and I intend to get all the facts and present them to my readers. Right or left, this is not acceptable.
I have been a fan of Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt's writings for a long time and I accept that she has a personal attachment to this story. However, I am much more concerned about America ceasing to be a free and democrat republic based on a Constitution. The politicization of the IRS, the Justice Dep't, the Capitol police and more parts of government is extremely scary. This is not the time to focus on foreign countries or stratifying us into groups: women, men, Christians, Jews, atheists, rich, poor, heterosexual or homosexual. Every person with a moral compass is in danger if America continues down the path she is on. We Jews, like many people, often keep our eyes on the rear-view mirror (remember the Maginot Line?). Putin and Russia aren't the danger today as much as what is going on in America is.
This may tick off some folks here, but I've read through this entire article, and it sounds like pretty typical political repression of those seen to be aiding an enemy. While I'm sure there are some who are using that as a cloak simply because they hate Jews, there's not a lot of evidence of that in this article.
One of the things I've learned is to change the races of a story and see what I think of it. If there was a private agency in America that was coordinating the migration of American blacks to Liberia, and Liberia started actively supporting China against the US, and the US response was to raid the agency and charge its directors with violating the Foreign Registration Act... would you think that was racism? Or is it political repression?
Please understand, I'm not arguing that it's a good thing in either case. But it doesn't sound like religious or ethnic persecution (which is what antisemitism means, at least to me) but a basic political disagreement. Vladimir Putin is trying to hurt political opponents and dissenters. The fact that some of those dissenters are Jewish doesn't mean Putin hates Jews; it means Putin hates dissent. I certainly could be wrong in this assessment, but this article features a lot of "we fear it might get bad", but not much evidence that it actually is turning bad for Russian Jews -- because they're Jewish. It's appears to be turning bad for Russian dissenters of all stripes, but that's not antisemitic. That's typical authoritarian politics.
Israel is not a country. It is a “settler colony”. My Woke Masters have decreed it, so it must be so.
As I’ve told my Jewish friends, for decades, how does an ideology that guts the Rule of Law by creating a hierarchy of rights based on victimhood, and the victimhood is based on disparities in outcomes, not entrap a group that dramatically outperforms?
The Squad etc aren’t necessarily antisemitic as much as they are just consistent with their dangerous ideology. The ideology just disproportionately impacts successful groups, like Jews, Asians etc.
well, its better to be safe then sorry, if things really fall apart in Russia even if state sponsored anti-semitism doesn't fully take hold, there will be plenty of non state actors looking who will happily exploit hatred of Jews for their own benefit. And not for nothing this is one of the primary reasons Israel must always exists, as a harbor.
I absolutely love Israel and Jewish people and totally respect all that they have gone through.
I would like to simply point out that the America that saved the Jews in 1945 is now punishing its own 'dissidents'(patriots) in our own Gulag's(D.C.).
For the first time in history an American president - the one who finally moved our embassy to Jerusalem - has been raided by the Stasi(FBI).
The American UniParty is no different than Putin; at least Putin is rightly protecting his nation against the globalists. No, I am not saying Puting is a good man in any way.
Without America there is no Israel. Let the focus be on America right now.
Western civilization would be a very bland stew without the contributions of the Jewish people. The "slippery slope" that Jews face in Russia is taking shape here and in Europe as well; the persecutions and intolerance of the past have been largely ignored or forgotten and none of us will be richer for that selective amnesia.
Very informative. I find a variety of perspectives to be helpful.