Vyacheslav Likhachev (Kiev),
Semyon Charny (Moscow)

In the early morning hours of May 31, 2010, the Israeli military arrested, in the Mediterranean Sea, several ships claiming they were headed for the Gaza Strip which is under the control of the radical Islamic movement Hamas. The ships belonged to the IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation (an Islamic organization based in Turkey) and were flying the flag of Turkey. The declared aim of the so-called “Freedom Flotilla” (as the action was named by the IHH leaders and their proponents in propaganda materials) was to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza Palestinians. The more wide-ranging goal of the action’s organizers was to breach the blockade Israel and Egypt imposed on Gaza after the terrorist movement Hamas violently seized the territory.

The arrest of the ships by the Israeli special forces was accompanied by the attacks of passengers of the largest ship Mavi Marmara, which ended in casualties: 9 persons were killed, over 30 passengers and 15 Tsahal soldiers were injured. The incident off the Gaza coast, just as the Israeli’s Defense Force operation “Cast Lead” in December 2008 – January 2009, brought about an upsurge of anti-Israel (often turning into anti-Semitic) demonstrations around the world. Whereas in the post-Soviet space such actions, as had been the case in previous years, did not take on the large-scale and aggressive character that was evidenced in the Western and Islamic countries, it, nevertheless, appears necessary to analyze the nature and the scope of this phenomenon in our region.

 

Traditionally, the greatest activity in condemning Israel was demonstrated by the representatives of Muslim organizations and by the members of the political parties that formally (as the RF Communist Party) or actually belong to the left. The emphasis is mainly placed on two factors: on the alleged total absence of necessaries of life in the Gaza Strip due to the Israeli blockade (while in some cases parallels were drawn with the actions of Nazi when confining Jews into ghettos); and on the supposedly unlawful character of the invasion of the Israeli on the “Freedom Flotilla” ships.

 

On June 1, Damir Gizatullin, the Deputy Chairman of the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of European Russia said in an interview to the Interfax news agency that the conduct of the Israeli was “barbaric”. He also said that, in his opinion, “the UN Security Council had to be urgently convened, so that the Israeli leadership could be fully brought to the account for the destruction of a humanitarian convoy in neutral waters”¹.

 

Also on June 1, Fatikh Garifullin, the Chairman of the Kaziyat Directorate of Muslims of the Tyumen Oblast made a statement naming the actions of the Israelis an “abominable crime against humanity” which “once again confirmed to the world community the danger of the crazy and extremist Zionist ideology claiming superiority over other peoples on the planet”. He also replayed the age-old anti-Semitic stereotype about a close similarity between Zionism and Nazism².

 

On the same day, Abdurrauf Zabirov, the First Deputy Mufti of the Common Spiritual Directorate of the Penza Oblast Muslims who is also chairman of the regional organization “Enlightenment”, sent an appeal to website islamnews.ru calling to ban Zionism as an “anti-human” and “anti-celestial” ideology³.

 

In an interview to the islamnews.ru website released on June 6, Ibrahim Gurkin, the Muslim activist from the Penza Oblast named the actions of the Israeli an “egregiously criminal act of the 21st century”, a crime against humanity, etc. And then, he went on with the demagogy about “the robbing and the extermination of the long-suffering people of Palestine and their Muslim faith”. Finally, referring to some German historian, he underpinned the idea that Israel is not a legitimate state and the Israeli are even worse than the Nazis⁴.

 

Visam Ali Bardvil, the Chairman of the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of Karelia declared that “it was once again that Israel had manifested the illegitimacy of its regime” and expressed his hope “that Russia will take more rigid measures against Israel”.

 

Gusman Iskhakov, the Head of the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of Tatarstan mufti said in a interview to website islamnews.ru that what happened is “a terrible outrage that shocked the entire world”. Albir Kirganov, the Mufti of Chuvashia remarked that “it is impossible not to be outraged by the wickedness of those who attacked the humanitarian mission”. The Mufti Nurbi Yemizh, the Head of the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of Adygeya said: “Those who carried out this terrorist act against a charitable mission committed a grave sin”. Whereas, Chairman of the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of Chechnya mufti Sultan Mirzaev said, naming the U.S. the main culprit of what happened: “After all, whatever crime Israel commits, the U.S. will always justify it. On the other hand, the U.S. suppresses any move against Zionists”⁵.

 

This kind of talk (and for some of the muftis, Bardvil among them, it was not the first time to take such liberties) testifies to the fact that anti-Semitic stereotypes are popular among the Muslim clergy. To a large extent, the prevalence of these stereotypes was, first, the result of dalliance with the so called “pure” Islam; and then, of the efforts to “outwit” the radical Islamists.

In an interview to the website “Svobodnaya Pressa” (Free Press) released on June 3, Geydar Dzhemal, the President of the Russian Islamic Committee said that the events around the Freedom Flotilla were a “capital defeat” of Israel and predicted a “color revolution” and even an armed conflict in Israel. In the interview he also mentioned, as a self-evident fact, the similarity of Israel and the racist regime of apartheid in the South Africa⁶.

 

On June 1, there appeared a statement by G. Zuganov, the KPRF leader and an appeal on behalf of an unspecified Council of Societies of Arab-origin Citizens. The Communist leader named the operation of the Israeli an “act of piracy” and, in strict accordance with the old Soviet standard, a “bloody crime of the Israel military”. G. Zuganov demanded “to force Israel to comply with international decisions concerning Palestine”, meaning that “an independent Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem should be founded”. The appeal of the Council of Societies consisted largely of made-up scenes of life in the Gaza Strip (“the Gaza’s inhabitants suffer from shortage of medicines, water, foodstuffs, and the very essentials for children, elderly and disabled”) and completely distorted the events on the board of the Mavi Marmara vessel⁷.

 

As usual, Maxim Shevchenko, the member of the Public Chamber and a journalist came out with anti-Israel statements. In the June 2 talk-show “Osoboye Mneniye” (Dissenting Opinion) on the “Echo of Moscow” radio he said that the Freedom Flotilla, before it was attacked, was ready to undergo the Israeli customs clearance. He called Israel’s attack “an act of piracy”. Maxim Shevchenko habitually accused the Israelis of their “readiness to whatever act of gangsterism in any place on earth”, as well as of using chemical weapons against the Gaza population and also of planning the Georgian army’s attack on Russia⁸.

 

Aside from the statements by political figures and clergymen, there were several rallies which, incidentally, did not succeed in drawing a lot of people.

 

On June 1, in front of the Israel embassy, a small rally of Islamists and their left-wing supporters took place. According to Islamists themselves, about one hundred people, mainly representatives of the Muslim diasporas, took part in the rally. However, according to the law-enforcement authorities, a group of 20 people holding flags of Turkey, Russia and Palestine were dispersed since the rally wasn’t authorized. All in all, 15 people (some say over 209) were arrested. At the rally, N. Kevorkova, a newspaperwoman told the audience stories about the shortage of necessities of life in Gaza, due to the Israeli¹⁰.

 

On June 7, at the same place, there was a rally organized by the KPRF. However, Communists were able to gather no more than 30 people, including representatives of the Palestinian diaspora. Participants of the action demanded “to court-martial Israel”. Some people were holding posters saying: “Israel, you will answer for murder!”, “Say NO to Israel’s state-sponsored terrorism!”, “Blockade of Gaza is a crime against humanity!” “Palestine, the Communists are with you!”, “Israeli Special Forces are today’s SS!”. A. V. Potapov, the member of the Moscow City Committee of the KPRF demanded to “establish an international tribunal so that all those found responsible for these crimes would receive deserved punishment”. Some confusion among the rally was caused by a sudden appearance of a pro-Israel activist holding Russia’s and Israel’s flags and posters saying (in English) “Free Gilad Shalit” and “Free Gaza from HAMAS”. The police had to separate the young man from the rest of the crowd some of whom shouted insults in his address¹¹.

 

On June 5, about a dozen activists from the Socialist Movement “Forward”, Left Front and Resistance Movement of Peter Alekseev marched, in an unsanctioned demonstration, through the Old Arbat street to voice their support of the Palestinians. The participants of the action chanted: “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!”, “Free Gaza – Free Moscow!”, “Solidarity!” The statement circulated by the organizers of the action repeated the myth about the shortage of medicines and foodstuffs in Gaza brought about by the Israelis. Gaza was depicted as a “contemporary reservation where the population is deprived of their future”¹².

In the regions of Russia, there was only one anti-Israel action. On June 2, in the Cathedral Mosque of the town of Kamenka, a meeting of Muslim activists of Penza Oblast took place. They condemned the Israel’s Navy arrest of the Free Gaza Flotilla and called for banning Zionism. Addressing the meeting, A. Zabirov said, in particular, that Zionism is “the breeding grounds for extremism and terrorism at the state level”. A decision was adopted to found a committee in Penza Oblast for rendering assistance to the Palestinian people and to the population of the Gaza Strip under blockade. In the appeal adopted by the meeting, it was unfoundedly claimed that the Israelis “committed a terrorist act against the ambassadors of peace”, thereby “demonstrating to the world their brutish essence and the evil face of an aggressor”. And citizens of Turkey who were killed in the conflict were named Shahids (martyrs dying for Allah)¹³.

 

The fact that there were few public actions of the kind is largely due to the short duration of the conflict. Communists and Islamists were not able to launch extended campaigns to mobilize activists.

 

There were also several anti-Israel publications full of anti-Semitic stereotypes.

 

On June 1, in the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, there appeared an article by D. Aslamova, a newspaperwoman who had already made a name by her anti-Israeli materials during the operation “Cast Lead”. In the cross-heading, the actions of the Israeli were called an “egregious example of state-sponsored piracy”. In the article, the inhabitants of Gaza were named “victims of siege” referring to the victims of the siege of Leningrad (incidentally, anti-Semites actively used this reference in January of 2009) and the Gaza Strip was depicted as “a concentration camp set up by Israelis for Palestinians” with a million and a half “stateless hostages deprived of the right to travel and to leave their lifelong prison”. It was also falsely stated in the article that Gaza had been under Israel’s siege for forty years. Concluding the article, D. Aslamova made a baseless allegation that “the monopoly on human rights and liberalism had been bought up by the Israel lobby from the international media for decades ahead” and that was why the liberals and human-rights activists did not criticize Israel¹⁴.

 

In an article titled “Our course is Palestine, our cargo is freedom” which Artem Kirpichenok, the former professor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem posted on his blog on June 3, he demagogically likened Gaza to the Jewish ghettos of the Holocaust and compared the conduct of the Israelis to that of the Nazis. “The world has not witnessed such a tragedy since the time of the Holocaust”, lamented Kirpichenok¹⁵.

At the same time, 28% thought that Israel did right by blocking Gaza, 35% supposed Israel was not right and 37% of responders were undecided.

 

As to who bears responsibility for the continuation of the conflict, 20% of responders blamed the U.S. (other 6% blamed the whole of NATO, 5% think the oil companies are guilty), 14% blamed the Islamists (other 5% accuse Arabs, 3% accuse the al-Qaeda’s leader Osama bin Laden, 1% accused Iran), 8% thought Israel was responsible (in 2006 and 2009 there were 11% of those who thought so). 34% were undecided¹⁸.

 

The indifference of Russians with regard to the conflict is largely accounted for, aside from its short duration, by the fact that, contrary to the Soviet period, the mass media (and the electronic media in particular) did not present Israel as an enemy. Another factor is that among Russian Muslims there is little “Arab solidarity” with Palestinian Arabs.

 

However, it is hard not to be concerned about the fact that the Russian leadership was unanimous in its strongly negative opinion on Israel’s actions.

 

At the June 1 news conference in Rostov-on-Don, following the EU-Russia Summit, President Medvedev said that the death of passengers on board the Mavi Marmara “cannot be compensated and is absolutely unmotivated”¹⁹. The same day, responding to Medvedev’s statement, Ruslan Kondratov, a member of the State Duma’s Foreign Affairs Committee said that the Freedom Flotilla incident, which he described as “a monstrous tragedy”, must be promptly investigated. “Should Israel’s guilt be fully proved, appropriate sanctions must be applied against this state and Russia is obliged to support such sanctions”, said the member of the Duma²⁰.

 

During a joint press conference of Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister and Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister held in Istanbul on June 8, Putin said: “We promptly expressed our concern over the attack. Not only this, we condemned the attack on the humanitarian convoy. [...] It is particularly deplorable that the attack was carried out in neutral waters. Such actions against civilian ships are unacceptable. Carrying out such actions in neutral waters raises special questions and, naturally, calls for careful examination and investigation”²¹. At the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building Measures in Asia that took place the same day, Putin described Israel’s actions as “a gross violation of the generally recognized norm of the international law”²² and declared that Russia stands for the soonest lifting of the Gaza siege²³. Putin also touched upon this theme in an interview to the France Press and France 2 released on June 10. He said, in particular, that “we have always called for the blockade to be lifted. I do not think such measures are the best way to tackle problems in the region. [...]

 

Nevertheless, I want to emphasize the fact that we have always proceeded from the fact that all people, including Israelis, have a right to safe national development. The specific means for tackling these problems and attaining this goal are the issues that require separate examination and a separate discussion after the latest tragic developments”²⁴.

The careless utterance of Avidgor Liberman, the Israel’s Minister for Foreign Affairs who, trying to get more backing from Russia, declared that the organizers of the Freedom Flotilla had supported the “Chechen separatists” for many years, drew an acute reaction on the part of Ramzan Kadirov, theChechen leader. Being very sensitive about any mentioning of the Chechen separatists with regard to their actual strength, Kadirov immediately named Liberman’s words propaganda and said that such information was being disseminated in order to “divert the world community’s attention from the bloody tragedy in the Mediterranean”²⁵.

 

However, these pronouncements were largely called forth by foreign- policy interests (unwillingness to harm Russia’s relations with the EC and Turkey) or domestic issues (as was the case with Kadirov).

The second in the scale of anti-Israel actions was Azerbaijan that was accounted to a very simple reason: the country was actively expanding its relations with Turkey which was, in fact, the informal organizer of the Freedom Flotilla. Apart from that, prominent religious leaders opposing the government have long been looking up to Iran waging a vigorous propaganda campaign against Israel (the majority of the population both in Azerbaijan and Iran are Shiites).

 

At first, the official response of Azerbaijan was quite moderate. On June 1, Elkhan Polukhov, the Foreign Ministry spokesman expressed concern because of the fact that “the noble mission of humanitarian aid to the population of Gaza had ended with human losses”. Along with this, he pointed out that “we mustn’t give way to emotions in this situation” since a thorough investigation of the incident was needed²⁶. At the same time, in the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan a correspondent of the Jewish News Agency was assured that should the “Turkish human-rights activists” be found guilty, Azerbaijan would not protest against their punishment²⁷.

 

However, in his speech at the Third Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building Measures in Asia, Ilkham Aliev said: “I would like to take this opportunity to state that the people of Azerbaijan sympathize with our Turkish brothers over the attack on a humanitarian vessel and the death of innocent civilians in the Mediterranean Sea. We strongly condemn this attack and stand by Turkey”²⁸.

 

At the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation that took place on June 1–3 in Belgrade, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Russia placed on the agenda a draft resolution condemning Israel’s interception of the Freedom Flotilla. However, the voting on the resolution was rendered abortive by the Armenian delegation who proposed to include in the resolution the condemning of sieges in the post-Soviet space. Since approving such a resolution by Turkey and Azerbaijan would mean condemning their own blockade of Armenia, the anti-Israel resolution was revoked together with the abovementioned Armenian amendment²⁹ •.

At the June 8 special session of the Milli Mejlis, Panah Husein, the deputy from the Musavat opposition party proposed to approve an official statement on behalf of the Milli Mejlis regarding Israel. He said that “the parliament of the country must condemn the wrongful acts of the Israeli military against the Freedom Flotilla ships in neutral waters which resulted in the death of nine citizens of Turkey”. He was backed by Fasail Agamali, the Chairman of the Ana Veten party deputy who declared that “the crime against Freedom Flotilla ships carrying humanitarian aid to the starving population of the Gaza Strip was an act of vandalism sparking great concern in the entire world community”³⁰. However, the overall majority of the deputies did not support the anti-Israel initiative of some of their colleagues³¹.

 

In an interview to the Azerbaijani ANS TV-channel, Gadzhi Allahshukur Pashazade, the Chairman of the Spiritual Directorate of the Caucasian Muslims described the landing of special forces on Mavi Marmara as “a demonstration of unwarranted cruelty” and said that “Israeli political figures together with their supporters had outraged the world’s public opinion”³².

 

On June 5, several left-wing parties and organizations including the Communist Party of Azerbaijan (Marxist-Leninist), the Progressive Socialist Party of Azerbaijan, the Community of Socialist-directed Scientists, the Independent panel of experts “Left Socialists of Azerbaijan”, the Independent Azerbaijani Public Committee for the Rights of five Cuban Heroes and the Azerbaijani Che Guevara’s Fan Club issued a declaration which described the Israeli’s actions as “a pirate attack” and “a cruel reprisal against unarmed Turkish and European human rights activists”. They announced the foundation of an independent Anti-imperialist and Anti-Zionist Committee of Azerbaijan which will “monitor the situation in the Middle East and in any other region of the world where peoples’ rights are trampled, and will promptly respond to the events happening there”³³.

On June 2, the Communist Party of Azerbaijan issued a statement condemning Israel’s action of May 31 against the Freedom Flotilla. Rauf Kurbanov, the Chairman of the Communist Party Central Committee compared the actions of the Israelis to what the Nazis practiced34.

 

A separate declaration has been issued by the Progressive Socialist Party of Azerbaijan. In the document, the actions of the Israelis were also named “an act of state-sponsored terrorism and maritime piracy in the international waters of the Mediterranean”. The declaration insisted on a trial against the organizers of the forcible entry operation on the ship and also demanded lifting the Gaza blockade35. Mass anti-Israel actions took place in Baku, Lankaran and in the settlement of Nardaran near Baku.

On June 4, the Azerbaijani non-governmental organization “National-Spiritual Values” carried out a rally in front of the Turkish embassy in Baku. The pickets were holding Turkish and Azerbaijani flags and posters with inscriptions “Israel is a murderer”, “Israel is a barbarian”. They chanted slogans “Azerbaijan and Turkey are one nation and a common state”, “Turkey’s grief is Azerbaijani grief”, “Away with Israel!”, etc.

 

The youth organizations of the Musavat party intended to picket the Israeli embassy in Baku on June 7 under slogans of “Punish the criminals!”,“Israel, you must apologize!” and “Turkey, we stand by you!” But the Baku authorities banned the Musavat rally on the grounds of clerical errors in the request to hold the event³⁶.

 

On June 3, some 100 persons held a march to the Alley of Perished Heroes and commemorated the casualties of Israeli militaries. The participants of the action scanned: “Israel, stop!”, “No to terror!”, “Turkey, we’re with you!” The speakers at the rally condemned the actions of Israel³⁷.

On June 4, a protest rally took place in Nardaran. It brought together about 150 residents, who carried slogans “Death to Israel!”, “Death to America!”, “Allah-Akbar!”, “Punish the criminals!”, “Israel, apologize!”, “Turkey, we’re with you!” The protesters lifted the flags of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Palestine and condemned the right-wing Azerbaijani opposition claiming that it gets financial support from Israel. They also criticized the policy of the Azerbaijani authorities. One of the protesters said that it was “a disgrace” that Ilkham Aliev, the President did not support “our brotherly Turkey”. A group of people from the rally trampled the flag of Israel underfoot. Then they burnt the flags of Israel, the U.S., Great Britain and Armenia. The protesters also demanded that the government of Azerbaijan break off all relations with Israel³⁸.

 

Another country in the post-Soviet space where anti-Israel pronounce- ments by high-ranking bureaucrats and politicians were heard and public anti-Israel rallies were held is Ukraine. The official response of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry was muted. In an official neutral-tone comment released as early as on May 31, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry expressed its concern about the event and called for an “objective and comprehensive inquiry into the incident”. “The use of force which led to human casualties raises particular concern. We express our sincere condolences to the families of the deceased and wish a quick recovery for the wounded”, it was said in the statement³⁹. Commissioner for human rights in Ukraine Nina Karpacheva (representing the ruling Party of Regions) expressed her indignation about Israel’s actions and pointed out that, in her opinion, they infringe the norms of international law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The commissioner further described Israel’s conduct as “an act of maritime terrorism demonstrating disregard for the basic human rights, and above all of the right to life”⁴⁰.

Virtually all Muslim organizations in Ukraine, as well as the Crimean Tatar ethnic institutions, have condemned Israel. On June 1, the representative body of the Crimean Tatar ethnicity, Milli Mejlis, came out at its special session with a petition condemning the actions of the Israeli military and calling upon the international community to bring to a criminal trial persons guilty of killing peace movement activists who tried to break the maritime blockade of Gaza. Furthermore, the Milli Mejlis called upon the UN Security Council and other international institutions to “ensure a speedy end of the Gaza Strip blockade by Israel”⁴¹. It must be pointed out that the response of the Mejlis during the “Cast Lead” operation was much more muted. During those events, the leadership of the Crimean Tatars had actually laid the blame for the bloodshed on the Hamas terrorist movement. Most likely, the acute response, particularly, to the incident off the Gaza coast is accounted to the close collaboration between the Mejlis and Turkey both at the official level and among nongovernmental organizations.

 

Other organizations of the Crimean Tatars have also condemned Israel. Among them was NGO Bizim Qirim who issued a petition saying: “We are strongly against actions hindering humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and we also condemn the attack on civilian passengers of the Flotilla”⁴².

On June 1–2, anti-Israel rallies ranging from 50 to 200 people were held in Kharkov, Simferopol and Kiev⁴³. Attending the rallies were mostly representatives of the Turkish and Arabic diasporas, Crimean Tatars and small groups of left-wing radicals. It is worth mentioning that, on the whole, the human rights community refused to express solidarity with the organizers of the Flotilla and distanced themselves from any statements and actions in their support⁴⁴.

The Central Asian states and Belarus confined themselves to issuing foreign ministry’s statements. Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry refrained from any accusations against Israel and just informed that “with the great sadness” did they learn about the “incident”. Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs “with the grave concern and anxiety” has learned about and condemned “the attack of the Israeli navy against an international humanitarian convoy of ships”.

 

Tajikistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned “the attack” which “was launched against the ships carrying the humanitarian aid in the defiance of the international law” and has essentially lined up with the viewpoint of Uzbekistan⁴⁵. On June 1, Hoji Akbar Turajonzoda, one of the influential reli- gious leaders of Tajikistan called the incident “a terrorist act and robbery committed in the international waters” and accused Israel of considering itself above all international norms. According to Turajonzoda, “it is all the result of the fact that Israel senses support from the U.S. and some of the Western states and, therefore, commits crimes unpunished”⁴⁶.

Press secretary of the Belarus Foreign Ministry Andrew Savinikh said that his country regarded the “actions on the part of Israel as a gross violation of the international legal norms” and condemned “the use of force which resulted in unjustified losses of lives among the civilians”⁴⁷.

 

Conclusion

 

Owing to the prompt response of Israel’s government, on the one hand, and on the other hand, as a result of the brought to light facts of organizations, designated as terrorist, taking part in the financing and preparation of the Freedom Flotilla48, the wave of anti-Israel hysteria began to subside. In the post-Soviet space this process was the most speedy.

 

Yet, in the first few days of June, a number of the described above rallies and statements have been witnessed in the territory of the former USSR. One may consider all these events insignificant in scale and not worthy of a special examination. However, the above-mentioned Levada Center poll numbers deprive us of optimism. According to them, a gradual, though very slow, increase in the support of Islamists is being observed in Russia. While in 2007 through 2008, as compared with June of 2010, the level of support of the Israelis in their conflict with the Palestinian Arabs virtually didn’t change, the number of responders who thought that the Palestinian Arabs were right rose from about 9–10% to 14%49. This increase is largely the consequence of campaigns, such as the one launched around the Freedom Flotilla, when the advocates of the radical Islamists implant anti-Israeli (turning anti-Semitic) stereotypes in the mass consciousness. It is worrisome that no discernible counter measures on the part of Israel is being carried out. At the same time, local Jewish communities lacking credible first-hand facts and without any informational support from the Israeli diplomatic institutions, find themselves not fit to effectively stand against the demagogy about “the oppressed Palestinians”, “attacks against the human-rights activists”, etc. Another important factor of a slow, though perceptible, increase in anti-Israel sentiments in the post-Soviet space (seen if we compare responses to the 2006 Second Lebanese war, the 2008–2009 Operation Cast Lead and the 2010 incident off the Gaza coast) appears to be the changes in the foreign-policy context. These changes include, among others, the Turkey–Iran rapprochement in foreign policy in relation to the Palestine–Israel conflict (and thus, involving states and groups looking up to Turkey and Iran which is clearly demonstrated, for that matter, by the Crimean-Tatar organizations) and the strengthening of the Russian–Turkish cooperation in the foreign policy.

 

1
Item of June 1, 2010, in the weekly bulletin of the Agency for Religious Information «Blagovest-Info» titled: The Council of Muftis of Russia urges the UN Security Council to be convened over the gunning of the humanitarian convoy by the Israeli Navy (in Russian) at http://www.blagovest-info.ru/index.php?ss=2&s=3&id=34612
2
Item on the Islam-News website of June 1, 2010, titled: Muslims of Tyumen stand for banning the extremist Zionist ideology (in Russian) at http://www.islamnews.ru/news-24588.html
3
Item on the Islam-News website of June 1, 2010, titled: Muslims of Penza call for the ban of Zionism (in Russian) at http://www.islamnews.ru/news-24581.html
4
Item by Alexander Bakhmutov on the Islam-News website of June 6, 2010, titled: Israel has let the Jinn out of the bottle (in Russian) at http://www.islamnews.ru/news-24681.html
5
Item on website IzRus of June 3, 2010, titled: Russian Muslims call to ban Zionism, http://izrus.co.il/dvuhstoronka/article/2010-06-03/10258.html
6
Item on website “Svobodnaya Pressa” (Free Press) of June 3 titled: Israel is on the way to a color revolution (in Russian) at http://svpressa.ru/world/article/25963/
7
Item by Ruslan Thagushev on the website of the KPRF of June 7, 2010, titled: Israel, you will answer for murder! (in Russian) http://kprf.ru/international/79942.html
8
Detailed text of the talk show “Osoboye Mneniye” of June 2, 2010, (in Russian) http://echo.msk.ru/programs/personalno/684035-echo
9
Item of June 1, 2010, in the weblog of Darya Mitina titled: Has Nurgaliev given permission again??? (in Russian) at http://kolobok1973.livejournal.com/1125303.html
10
Item on the Islam-News website of June 1, 2010, titled: Rally in Moscow. Two buses of OMON (Special Police Force) were defending the Israel embassy (in Russian) at http://www.islamnews.ru/news-24589.html
Item in the online newspaper Gazeta.Ru of June 1, 2010, titled: Participants in the rally in front of the Israel embassy were arrested (in Russian) at http://www.gazeta.ru/news/lenta/2010/06/01/n_1501987.shtml
11
Item on the website of the Agency for Jewish News of June 8, 2010, titled: One against thirty (in Russian) at http://www.aen.ru/?page=brief&article_id=57386&PHPSESSID=dorbn3mlottb76g9qtuirnh5s7
12
Item on the website of the Institute for Collective Action of June 7, 2010, titled: A rally in support of the Palestinian people and the international movement “Free Gaza” was held in Moscow (in Russian) at http://www.ikd.ru/node/13679
13
Item by Alexander Bakhmutov on the Islam-News website of June 3, 2010, titled: Israel’s attack upon the lives of peacemakers is a crime of the century! (in Russian) at http://www.islamnews.ru/news-24632.html
14
Darya Aslamova. Why Israel is a “sacred cow” for our liberals. Komsomolskaya Pravda, June 1, 2010, at http://www.kp.ru/daily/24499/653115
15
Article “Our course is Palestine, our cargo is freedom” posted on A. Kirpichenok’s blog of June 3, 2010, at http://haspar-arnery.livejournal.com/183515.html?view=1869531#t1869531
16
Vsevolod Drapkin. Sea of blood on deck. Online newspaper “Sevodnya.ru” of June 7, 2010, at http://www.segodnia.ru/index.php?pgid=2&partid=5&newsid=11822
17
Vsevolod Drapkin. Freedom Flotilla against the fear of the Jews. Online newspaper “Sevodnya.ru” of June 7, 2010, at http://www.segodnia.ru/index.php?pgid=2&partid=28&newsid=11821
18
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Press release of the Levada Center, of July 12, 2010 (in Russian) at http://www.levada.ru/press/2010071203.html
19
News Conference following EU-Russia Summit, June 1, 2010, http://eng.kremlin.ru/transcripts/322
20
Kondratov: Freedom Flotilla incident must be investigated (in Russian). Official website of the United Russia party, June 1, 2010, at http://edinros.er.ru/er/text.shtml?13/8947
21
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan hold a joint press conference following Russian-Turkish bilateral talks on June 8, 2010. Website of the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation at http://premier.gov.ru/eng/events/pressconferences/10922/
22
Putin calls for subduing the intensity of emotions that arose in the Middle East on account of the attack on the Peace Flotilla, June 8, 2010, report by the news agency Interfax (in Russian) at http://www.interfax.ru/politics/news.asp?id=140346
23
Putin calls for subduing the intensity of emotions regarding the situation with the flotilla, June 8, 2010, report by the RIA News (in Russian) at http://www.rian.ru/world/20100608/243901313.html
24
Website of the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation at http://www.premier.gov.ru/eng/events/news/10948/
25
Kadirov qualified the statement about any ties between the Freedom Flotilla and Chechnya as propaganda. Lenta.ru of June 8, 2010 (in Russian) at http://lenta.ru/news/2010/06/08/kadyr
26
Faik Medzhid. Anti-Israeli protest actions held in Azerbaijan. Caucasian Knot, June 5, 2010 at http://southcaucasus.eng.kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/13676/
27
Ilya Aronovich. Muted pro-Turkish response of Azerbaijan (in Russian). Jewish News Agency of June 1, 2010 at http://www.aen.ru/index.php?page=brief&article_id=57309 PHPSESSID=jronamfl3us258gh9ds4jr60j3
28
Official website of the President of Azerbaijan. Speech by President Ilham Aliyev at a summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia on June 8, 2010, at http://www.president.az/articles/208?locale=en
29
Armenian delegation rendered abortive an anti-Israel resolution. Regnum News, June 8, 2010 (in Rucssian) at www.regnum.ru/news/polit/1291939.html
30
Rasim Babaev. Milli Mejlis may issue a statement concerning Israel’s actions (in Russian). Press agency The First News, June 8, 2010 at http://1news.az/politics/20100608124505260.html
31
Ilya Aronovich. The response of the Azerbaijani parliament was muted (in Russian). Jewish News Agency of June 9, 2010 at http://www.aen.ru/?page=brief&article_id=57397&PHPSESSID=3661psir7jbfs9o4kf9prfapk4
32
Sokhbet Mamedov. Baku has condemned Israel’s actions (in Russian). Nezavisimaya Gazeta (Independent Newspaper) of June 4, 2010, at http://www.ng.ru/cis/2010-06-04/6_baku.html
33
Anti-imperialistic and anti-Zionist committee of public formed in Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan Business Center at http://www.abc.az/eng/news_05_06_2010_45550.html
34
Communist Party of Azerbaijan condemns Israel’s actions against the Freedom Flotilla (in Russian). Press agency The First News, June 3, 2010 at http://www.1news.az/politics/20100603100647769.html
35
Azerbaijani Socialists condemn yet another crime of Israel. An item of June 2 posted on left-az.livejournal.com blog (in Russian) at http://left-az.livejournal.com/20825.html
36
Anti-Israel actions continue in Azerbaijan. Aysor.am of June 4, 2010 (in Russian), at http://www.aysor.am/ru/news/2010/06/04/azer-israel
37
Faik Medzhid. Anti-Israeli protest actions held in Azerbaijan. Caucasian Knot, June 5, 2010 at http://southcaucasus.eng.kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/13676/
38
Faik Medzhid. Anti-Israeli protest actions held in Azerbaijan. Caucasian Knot, June 5, 2010 at http://southcaucasus.eng.kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/13676/
39
Comment of the Department of the information policy of the MFA of Ukraine on the incident with the maritime humanitarian aid convoy intended for Gaza, May 31, 2010, at http://www.mfa.gov.ua/mfa/en/news/detail/40116.htm
40
Karpacheva described Israel’s attack on the ships of human right activists as an act of maritime terrorism. Islam in Ukraine, June 3, 2010, at http://islam.in.ua/3/eng/full_news/6708/visibletype/1/index.html
41
Mejlis condemns the Israeli attack against the Freedom Flotilla (in Russian). Islam in Ukraine, June 3, 2010, at http://islam.in.ua/3/rus/full_news/6672/visibletype/1/index.html
42
Mejlis condemns the Israeli attack against the Freedom Flotilla (in Russian). Islam in Ukraine, June 3, 2010, at http://islam.in.ua/3/rus/full_news/6672/visibletype/1/index.html
43
Rallies in support of the Freedom Flotilla were held in Ukraine (in Russian). Islam in Ukraine, June 3, 2010, at http://islam.in.ua/3/eng/full_news/6704/visibletype/1/index.html
44
Indicative in this regard was a problem-oriented direct-email discussion titled “Human rights in Ukraine”. Actually, only one active participant of the discussion voiced his support of the Islamists, while the majority on the mailing list, as well as the email administration, obviously disapproved of them.
45
Item by Mikhail Falkov on website IzRus of June 2, 2010 titled: What hides behind the “the split” between the Kazakhs and the Uzbeks regarding the Free Gaza Flotilla (in Russian), at http://izrus.co.il/dvuhstoronka/article/2010-06-02/10242.html
46
Item of June 1 on website Fergana.news titled Tajikistan condemned the seizure of the Freedom Flotilla by the Israeli military (in Russian) at http://www.ferghana.ru/news. php?id=14852&mode=snews
47
Item by Alexander Goldenstein on website IzRus of June 4, 2010, titled: Free Gaza: The CIS countries condemn Israel,” but not all of them do it and “not as required”l (in Russian), at http://izrus.co.il/dvuhstoronka/article/2010-06-04/10275.html
48
For example, the activities of the IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, which was the official sponsor of the Flotilla, was banned in Germany on June 11, 2010 (http://www.jpost.com/SpecialSection/Article.aspx?id=181187)
49
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Press release of the Levada Center, of July 12, 2010 (in Russian), at http://www.levada.ru/press/2010071203.html

• It is worthy to note that later on Armenia also came out for Israel. On June 9, Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan opposed the practice of double standards as applied to the Freedom Flotilla incident and said that any blockade, not only the one of Gaza, should be condemned (Armenia’s Foreign Minister opposes the practice of double standards as applied to the Freedom Flotilla incident, June 9, 2010, Armenian News at http://newsarmenia.ru/arm1/20100609/42261598.html). Quite possible that by this Armenia’s leadership hopes to strengthen its relations with Israel and to worsen Azerbaijani-Israeli relations.