Skip to main content

Incitement against Russian-Israelis resurges in election campaign

As the elections approach, ultra-Orthodox leaders are accusing Israelis who immigrated from Russia and Ukraine of coming to the country to weaken their political force.
DZGq21OUMAADlGg.jpg
Read in 

Two months ahead of Israel’s third round of elections in less than a year, all means appear to be justified by the end of gaining as many votes as possible on March 2, including the spreading of falsehoods, wild incitement against entire population groups and dissemination of absurd conspiracy theories. This week Israel’s Chief Sephardic Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, the son of the founder of the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, spread serious allegations regarding the Jewish identity of Israelis who immigrated from the former Soviet Union and Israel’s motives in bringing them into the country.

The comments by Yosef, a senior public official on the government’s payroll, were made at a recent conference of rabbis in Jerusalem and they were reported Jan. 7 by Ynet. The chief rabbi stated, “Tens or hundreds of thousands of non-Jews came here under the ‘who is a Jew’ law,” the chief rabbi stated, referring to an amendment to the law of return that allows the immigration of grandchildren of Jews. “Some are communists, hostile to religion, haters of religion. They're not even Jewish, they're gentiles. … They were brought here to provide a counterweight to the ultra-Orthodox so that if elections are held, there will not be many votes for the ultra-Orthodox. That was why they were brought here. Total non-Jews. Unfortunately, we see the fruit of the incitement they conduct.”

Access the Middle East news and analysis you can trust

Join our community of Middle East readers to experience all of Al-Monitor, including 24/7 news, analyses, memos, reports and newsletters.

Subscribe

Only $100 per year.