Head of World Congress of Russian Jewry accuses Georgia of genocide

[bemildred]

Source: Haaretz

Russian-speaking Israeli figures have expressed dismay at a statement made by the chairman of the World Congress of Russian Jewry, Russian Senator Boris Spiegel, calling for the establishment of a tribunal that would investigate Georgia's "war crimes" during the past week's round of fighting.

Spiegel, a prominent Jewish oligarch boasting close ties with the Kremlin, accused Georgia of genocide and ethnic cleansing.

"We, as historic victims of genocide, cannot stand aloof," the statement said on behalf of the umbrella organization of the worldwide Russian-speaking Jewish community. In the statement, which was widely published in Russia, Spiegel also accused the Georgian Army of inhumane behavior towards the citizens of South Ossettia, mass killings, and the destruction of the enclave's capital Tskhinvali, which he called "The capital of the republic."

In a conversation with Haaretz, MK Ze'ev Elkin (Kadima), who serves as the deputy head of the Congress, criticized Spiegel's statements, saying the organization's role is to worry about well-being of Jews worldwide and not get involved in "geo-political conflicts."



Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1012157.html

[Ian David]

1. Bush sent "Advisors" there. What did we THINK they were doing? n/t

[madeline_con]

2. "... worry about well-being of Jews worldwide

and not get involved in "geo-political conflicts."

So, as long as the jews being fucked with are not in an area of "geo-political conflict", they'll help?

[LisaL]

9. I dunno.

This doesn't make sense to me either. WTF?

[CitizenPatriot]

3. and u don't speak for me, mc cain

when you defend ethnic cleaning because you and your adviser were paid 800k to "support" georgia.

this should go over really well with my jewish friends who announced they were going rep this year because the republicans support israel.

[Igel]

4. Huh?

In 1985, there was a reasonably sized Jewish community in Tskhinvali. Some traced their history there back many, many hundreds of years--possibly a couple of thousand years. That would have them arriving not much later than the Ossetians.

Then there were the Ashkenazi, there as a result of the expulsion of Jews from Russia in the 1800s. Part of the usual show of respect that Russians have had for Jews.

Of course--how stereotypical--the two communities didn't always get along.

As a result of the fighting in the early 1990s, most of the Jews fled. Some went to Israel. A lot went to Georgia--Russia didn't want them, N. Ossetia didn't want them, so few went there.

After the fighting stopped, and the conflict frozen, they simply weren't allowed back in. The Tskhinvali Jewish quarter is pretty much non-Jewish. A lot still live in Georgia. Some don't want to return. Some more went to Israel or elsewhere.

One of the Tskhinvali populations most "cleansed" by the Georgians, although it's unclear that they were the targets--and then kept scrubbed by the Ossetians and Russians--are the Jews, both Ashkenazi and other.

[Tutonic]

5. Kadima is correct. This is not an ethnic conflict. It is a geo-political

Conflict. There are not that many Jews in SOuth Ossettia for a claim of ethnic cleansing to stick. For the last eight years, the US has attempted to portray every conflict as "ethnic cleansing" or "ethnic strife." Ethnic cleansing like what occurred in Rwanda or Kosivo during the Clinton years gave greater authority to our government to pursue military solutions. However, as the deputy head of the Congress stated this is not "ethnic" cleansing or strife. It is a geo-political conflict that requires negotiation and a political solution. Use of military force as instigated by Georgia was not reasonable and Putin's reaction was something that should have similarly occurred when the US used unprovoked military force in Iraq--Russia, the Arab states--the UN, or somebody--anybody-- should have hit back hard. South Ossettia does not have a large enclave of Jews--so the statements by this guy are both worrisome and conflicting. The conflict has more to do with what kind of government will control Ossetia than with ethnic cleansing.

[razors edge]

6. There is the rub, isn't it.

I'm sure there are many Jews in South Ossettia, and they lived, or died alongside the rest of the population as a land grab took place killing indiscriminately in it's course.

History is nothing more than a bad joke played on the vanquished, by the victors, and as the vanquished, it is always important to get your side of the story out as soon as possible and in this case this may be the best spin available.

Did the Israeli backed Georgians commit genocide against the Ossetian's Jewish people, I don't think so.

[AntiFascist]

7. That's not really the point...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Ossetia

The Ossetians are originally descendants of the Alans, a Sarmatian tribe. They became Christians during the early Middle Ages, under Georgian and Byzantine influences...The Georgian Supreme Soviet adopted a law barring regional parties in summer 1990. This was interpreted by Ossetians as a move against Ademon Nykhas and led to Ossetians proclaiming South Ossetia a Soviet Democratic Republic,<20> fully sovereign within the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Ossetians boycotted subsequent Georgian parliamentary elections and held their own contest in December. The Georgian government headed by Zviad Gamsakhurdia declared this election illegitimate and abolished South Ossetia's autonomous status altogether on 11 December, 1990.<17>

For Israel (and the United States) to back a government which brutally attacks its own civilians sets an extremely bad precedent.

[pnorman]

8. 'to worry about well-being of Jews worldwide and not get involved in "geo-political conflicts."'

A strange point of view, from someone presumably concerned with the meaning and implications of the Holocaust!

pnorman

[LisaL]

10. I don't understand his statement.

Is he saying that unless jews are specifically targeted for being jews, this organization won't worry about them?