Israel Shamir – The Unz Review Jan 24, 2020

These days, Jerusalem could compete with Davos and Bilderberg. Most distinguished, high and mighty gentlemen have met here, at the Auschwitz Forum in Yad wa-Shem Memorial: kings, presidents, prime ministers; a living proof the Jews have some pull in the world.

The British Court of St James was represented by Prince Charles; France – by President Macron; the mighty US of A had sent VP Pence, this supreme achievement of AI (he looks almost human, though not quite). There were Governor General of Australia, President of Austria, President of Albania, President of Argentina, President of Armenia, King of Belgium, President of Bulgaria, President of Hungary, Prince of Wales, President of Germany, President of Greece, President of Turkey, President of Denmark, President of Iceland, King of Spain, President of Italy, Governor General of Canada, President of Cyprus, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, President of Northern Macedonia, President of Moldova, King of the Netherlands, Crown Prince of Norway, President of Romania, President of Serbia, Vice President of the United States, the president of Finland, the French president, the Montenegrin President, Prime Minister of Sweden, President of the European Council, President of the European Parliament, European Commission President …

The hosts had used the occasion to the utmost. Mr Netanyahu, the Israeli Interim PM, compared Iran with Nazi Germany and said that destruction of Iran today equals liberation of Auschwitz then. Israeli President, Reuven Rivlin, said there is no difference between anti-Semites and anti-Zionists; whoever is an enemy of Israel is the enemy of all Jewish people, very simple.

However, judging by Israeli media attention, there was just one prominent guest, President Vladimir Putin. While he was in Jerusalem – less that one day – all the limelight was his, while other kings and rulers hardly had been noticed. The power this man has, his grip on public mind and imagination, his charisma are quite unprecedented. He was treated as an Emperor on pilgrimage, like Kaiser Wilhelm on his 1898 visit to this Middle Eastern town.

Putin knew why he came, and he kept his mind on the topic. Russia saved the Jews 75 years ago; Russia should be supported by Jews now, especially in comparison with Russia’s neighbours, that was his first message. In his speech, he stressed that very few Jews survived in Poland, Ukraine, Latvia and Lithuania, for the locals did their utmost to catch and kill every Jew who managed to slip out of German vice. It is not a coincidence that presidents of the three states, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland didn’t come at all; the Ukrainian president Mr Zelensky did come, but stayed away from the forum.

In the modern Ukraine, there is a widespread cult of Stephan Bandera, the Ukrainian Quisling, adept of Hitler and the leader of brutal gangs OUN-UPA. They murdered Jews, Poles, Russians and politically untrustworthy Ukrainians. Recently the CIA was forced by law to reveal its documents about the man, and so they did. You can read it here, about him being a Nazi spy and a mass murderer, in the contemporary documents. Banderites were suppressed by Stalin’s KGB, but they were allowed to rehabilitate and return to normal life, for there was a general feeling that the insurgency is over.

Since 2014, there are streets in Kiev and elsewhere in Ukraine dedicated to his name; his pictures embellish government buildings, and modern Banderites are a strong fighting force both in Eastern Ukraine against Donbas separatists and elsewhere against Russian-language-speakers. They are hostile to the recently elected President Zelensky, considering him too soft by half. Zelensky does not dare to confront them. That is why he stayed away from Baby Yar massacre site near Kiev, and now he stayed away from the forum in Jerusalem, as his presence there would antagonise the Banderites.

I was asked by a reader, shouldn’t Poles, Ukrainians and Russians dwell more on the historical events to make things clear. In general, I do not think so. I think that past is past, and let it take care of itself. What is important that’s present. If Ukraine and Poland, as well as Lithuania and Latvia were to stop their anti-Russian policies in conjunction with NATO and the US Deep State, the Russians would forget their fathers’ crimes. But if the governments of these four countries would carry on with their hostile politics towards Russia, the Russians would be forced to ally with the Jewish power against these heirs of Nazi henchmen.

The Monument

Putin had been treated in Jerusalem as the beloved son and clear favourite of Netanyahu and people in general. Just opposite the Knesset (Parliament), they erected a monument to the Jewish victims of Leningrad siege, and Putin had been asked to inaugurate it. Netanyahu was there, and survivors, and the musicians from Russia, too. It was a big and impressive event, one of the biggest for this event-crowded day.

I find it of bad taste to commemorate Jews separately of all other fallen people of Leningrad. One of my uncles was killed in 1942 at the defence of the city on the Black River, but he had fought and died together with his Russian comrades. However, the Jews have a mental problem to demonstrate empathy to non-Jews; they want separate commemoration, and Putin couldn’t force them to do things differently.

Putin was very cautious – he did not say a word about Iran. Russia is a friend of Iran; Russian and Iranian navies had joint naval exercises quite recently. Putin did not say a word about the alleged plague of anti-Semitism nowadays. Straight after the Forum, he went to the Palestinian city of Bethlehem for a meeting with Mahmud Abbas, the president of Palestine. Russians are engaged in reconstruction of Star Street leading to Manger Square in front of Nativity Cathedral in the city.

Putin was the only one of many Forum guests who balanced his visit to Jews with his visit to Palestinians. He also had met with the Patriarch of Jerusalem, expressing his support for the native church of the Holy Land.

Correction

For some time, Putin had been quite disappointed with Israelis. Israelis are very difficult people to deal with: whatever they get, they take as their due. They have no sense of gratitude, and no desire to repay for the gesture of the other side. Putin did a lot for Israel and for Netanyahu personally – he delivered to Israel the mortal remains of an Israeli soldier who was killed in action in Lebanon many years ago; he fulfilled many big and small requests of the Israeli PM. Not such big and impossible wishes like removing Iranians from Syria or delivering Messiah, but reasonable requests. But he encountered Jewish dislike of paying back.

By the US request, a Russian programmer had been detained in Israel in 2015. Despite Russian requests, Israel refused to return the detainee, and quite recently he had been shipped to the US, where this young man can expect many years of jail, and possibly torture to force him to “confess” in interfering in the US elections. Russians were very upset with this Israeli decision, as well as with Israeli shelling of Syria.

However, in April 2019, a young Israeli woman called Naama Issachar flew from Delhi to Tel Aviv via Moscow, and in Moscow airport the drug squad dog sniffed hashish in her backpack. She was detained and sentenced to over seven years of imprisonment. In Russian terms, it is quite a heavy sentence for 10 gram of hashish, though in some countries she would be lucky to escape death sentence.

Israelis had turned Naama case into a tool against Putin and Russia. They said that Russians should release the woman because, you know, when Israel asks, nobody denies their request. Naama’s Russian lawyer, a convinced Putin hater, had advised the smuggler to behave unreasonably. He undermined an effort to swap the smuggler for the programmer, telling Naama’s family that she will be released anyway quite soon. Naama’s mother proclaimed she does not want to help Putin and that is why she objects to the proposed swap. But Naama was not released.

At that moment, Israelis felt that Putin is annoyed with them. They decided to sort things out. There were many things the Russians asked for many years, and the Israelis refused to give:

• Much to Russian chagrin, Israeli immigration has a nasty custom of turning Russian visitors away at the Tel Aviv airport. Five thousand Russian visitors weren’t allowed to enter Israel last year.

• Russian church property has not been returned nor registered by Israeli authorities;

• A Russian monastery had its access cut off, and a tramline had been laid through its territory etc.

Now they decided to fulfil Russian requests. As I discovered, on December 30, 2019, they ruled to transfer to Russians one of the most precious holy sites, St Alexander Church, located next to the Holy Sepulchre. This plot of land had been bought by Tsar Alexander III in middle 19^th century. Excavations uncovered an ancient gate and wall of Jerusalem of Jesus days, probably the gate Jesus exited the city as he was led to Golgotha. A narrow aperture in the wall could be the Needle’s Eye, the gate for a late pedestrian that a camel would find almost impossible to squeeze through. The Church had some accommodation for high-ranking guests, and Nicolas II apparently stayed there during his visit as the Crown Prince.

After 1918, the church remained in the hands of the White Russian émigrés, and in 2004 it was taken over by an adventurist Ukrainian Jew Hoffman who claimed he is a heir and descendent of Count Vorontsov. For many years, Russian government demanded to transfer the church to rightful Russian ownership, but Israeli authorities steadfastly refused. Now they did it, on condition that within 60 days other claims may be presented. There is a good chance that in beginning of March the church will be returned to the Church of Moscow.

It could fail, too. The Israeli media succeeded to whip their readership into frenzy about the smuggler; reports about Naama displaced the story of the Holocaust almost completely. A foreign observer could imagine that all this great gathering occurred in order to save the daughter of Zion from Russian clutches. Putin had been pushed to pardon the smuggler on the spot. He wisely avoided it; he just gave to Naama’s mother the standard Israeli response “It will be okay”. If Naama would be released before the church was transferred, the Jews may be tempted to refuse the transfer. Israelis hate to give some thing for free; it is a phobia, this fear to act a sucker. It is easier for them to think they “give” the church for the Israeli girl. But this misrepresentation also makes possible some last minute cheating.

Still, meanwhile it seems that Israeli authorities decided to fix their relations with Russia. They took good care of Putin, they preferred his version of history to the Polish and Ukrainian ones. They recognised the decisive role of the Red Army in destroying Nazi might and in breaking the gates of Auschwitz. By doing it, they corrected multiple wrongs they did to Russians, and clearly went against the US brief.

VP Pence did not mention that it was the Russian Red Army that liberated Auschwitz. He spoke of American soldiers who indeed participated in the war (and who still occupy Europe – but he did not mention that). The US leaders usually compare Stalin and Hitler as twin horrors, thus allowing Poland and Baltic states an easy way out. The new version established in Jerusalem is not only more correct and just; it is also a relief from anti-Russian tendency and a chance to postpone the total nuclear war. To your knowledge, the Doomsday clock shows now 100 seconds to midnight.

Dynamic Mr Putin

Putin is so different from his predecessors, from beefy Yeltsin and obsequious Gorbachev! He is lissom, agile, quick, friendly, totally devoid of pomposity and pretence. He is full of energy and quick to respond, but also able to show poker face and to keep silence. That is the man we saw in Jerusalem. He met people and gave speeches and made decisions – more than a young man can. And he is not old yet, 67 as opposed to Trump’s 73 or Sanders 78. I think he will be able to work for many years more to come.

That is why I doubt the government change done last week is a sign of approaching retirement of Mr Putin. To me, it is just a normal reshuffling of government. New ministers are younger than the old ones. The new PM will have a job of digitalising Russia, as he digitalised the Internal Revenue. Russia is going through modernisation, and Putin needs younger comrades-at-arms. Some are very young, as the new Culture Minister whose healthy lack of reverence already had caused some butthurt among the artists used to Western grants. The most important positions – Foreign Office, Defence – remain in the old hands, and will assure continuity. Mr Putin will not retire any time soon, but he probably needs more people who understand his intentions and ready to fulfil the tasks.

It is not like he has a choice. In the present situation, nobody can guarantee his well-being. The fate of Saddam and Gadhafi is still too fresh on his memory. And he seems to manage all right. He proved it during this short overloaded Jerusalem visit.

P.S. Just at the time of Auschwitz forum, Russian court took up the case of Dr Roman Yushkov. He was accused of Holocaust denial, and he won, for the H denial is not a crime in Russia. Encouraged by his victory, Dr Yushkov sued the state for six million roubles for damages, and on January 21 the court gave him 50 thousand roubles as compensation. Russia is the freest country in the world, it seems. You can write to him at romanyushkov@mail.ru.

Israel Shamir can be reached at adam@israelshamir.net

This article was first published at The Unz Review.