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Boruch Gorin, spokesman for the Federation of Jewish Communities in Russia:"Until the Council of Muftis decides on its attitude toward Ashirov's activities as provocative and undermining neighborly relations between the Muslim and Jewish communities in Russia, we will not maintain any contacts with the Council of Muftis."
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MOSCOW (EJP)---The Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia (FJCR) has announced the freezing of any contact with the Council of Muftis of Russia following anti-Semitic statements made by one of its leaders, the Russian Interfax news agency reported.
"Zionism is like cancer, because Zionism is fascism,” the Council’s co-chairman, Nafigullah Ashirov, was quoted as saying.
"Until the Council of Muftis decides on its attitude toward Ashirov's activities as provocative and undermining neighborly relations between the Muslim and Jewish communities in Russia, we will not maintain any contacts with the Council of Muftis," Boruh Gorin, the FJCR’s spokesman, said.
"We are categorically against describing the Jewish people's desire to return to Zion as a cancer - this insults all of the Jewish people. We are not inclined toward looking for a compromise in this situation," he said.
The Jewish community "cannot pretend that nothing has happened in relations between our organizations," he added.
Israeli Ambassador to Russia Anna Azari said Ashirov’s comments “hopefully do not convey the attitudes of the entire Muslim community in Russia.”
"We think religious leaders must advocate love and peace. Ashirov is sowing the seeds of hatred and engages in provocations. We do not think Ashirov expresses the opinion of the entire Muslim public with which we are linked with traditional interaction and cooperation," the Israeli diplomat said.
In a separate incident, authorities in Novosibirsk have yet to determine who was behind the anti-Semitic posters put up on the doors of residential buildings in this Siberian city earlier this week.
Rabbi Zalman Zaklos, who heads the local Jewish community in Russia’s third largest city after Moscow and Saint Petersburg, is working with the police and city officials to identify the source of the posters that revive the blood libel, calling on residents to protect their children from Jews who “kidnap small children" and use their blood to prepare matza", the unleavened bread traditionally served during Jewish Passover festival.
"Anti-Semitism is not new in this area, but the graphic posters reflect an extreme aggression that is disturbing," Rabbi Zaklos said.
Around 20,000 Jews live in Novosibirsk.