Putin revives antisemitic trope, accusing Jews of tearing apart the Russian Orthodox Church

Russian President Vladimir Putin uses antisemitic rhetoric during his lengthy end-of-year press conference, accusing people including “ethnic Jews” of tearing apart the Russian Orthodox Church.

“These people that are attacking the church, they are not atheists,” Putin says, addressing a question posed at the press conference. “They are absolutely faithless people, Godless people. Well, ethnically, many of them are Jews, but you haven’t seen them visit any synagogue.”

Putin’s characterization of Jews in this way can have dangerous consequences, says Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, the president of the Conference of European Rabbis.

“This is just one example of his regime’s explicit and virulent antisemitism, which has intensified following his 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the 2023 events of October 7th,” Goldschmidt says. “This is all reminiscent of Stalin’s “Fight against Cosmopolitanism” and the “Doctors’ Plot” of 1948–53, the brutal antisemitic campaign in the Soviet Union, resulting in the arrest and killing of much of the Soviet Jewish leadership in the Soviet Union.”

“We cannot emphasize enough the dangerous effect of such statements in a semi-totalitarian society,” Goldschmidt continues. “As a representative of Jewish communities across Europe, and someone who was forced to flee my home and community in Moscow, I call on Europe and the free world to unequivocally condemn President Putin’s dangerous propaganda before it spreads further.”

The Russian Orthodox Church is widely criticized by international watchdogs for its close relationship with the Russian government. The Council of Europe recently labeled the church a propaganda tool of the Kremlin, and several European countries have expelled church officials due to security concerns.

In his attempt to appear as the protector of Russian Orthodox Christianity, Putin is blaming the people of which 'many of them are ethnically Jews.' It feels like listening to a speech from the 1800s. Same words, same blood libels.
Amir Tsarfati pic.twitter.com/ZfrTMRyTtU

— Sue (@SimplySusie3) December 19, 2024