Are Putin and his Olympics good for the Jews?
SOCHI, Russia — The 2014 Winter Olympics that will begin here on February 7 are already being overshadowed by an international outcry over the Kremlin’s policy toward gay rights, its suppression of dissident political voices, and protests by environmentalists outraged at the material and natural cost of the most expensive Olympic Games ever. And then there's the simmering tension with the country’s minorities, particularly the Muslim population of the Caucasus region, near Sochi, where a bloody counter-insurgency campaign continues against militant organizations. But there is one minority group in Russia that has been repressed and persecuted there for centuries but seems to be fully behind the Sochi Olympics: the Jews.
These are the first games at which the Olympic villages will have specially designated synagogues, complete with prayer books and Torah scrolls. Previous Olympics had multi-faith prayer areas, but this is the first time that there will be churches, mosques and synagogues on site. Less than two weeks before the games begin, Rabbi Ari Edelkopf, director of the Chabad Jewish Center in Sochi, is still putting the finishing touches to the synagogues, taking delivery from Israel of small curtains for the Torah arks. He says with a smile that he toyed with the idea of embroidering the Olympic rings on them, but decided against it.
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Hatred of Jews still lingers in Russia, though it is primarily evident on the Internet, where comments on Jews profiting from the Olympic building contracts are easy to find.
“Putin seems to be that rare being, a Russian nationalist not tainted by anti-Semitism,” says a leading professional in a major Jewish organization who has many years of experience in Russia and asked to remain unnamed. “But his attitude is largely instrumental. He believes the Jews have major influence around the world, especially in Washington, so he suppresses anti-Semitism, not out of any great sense of tolerance or human rights."
Once Putin goes offstage, Russia could face a resurgence of anti-Semitism, warns the Jewish organization official. "He has an alliance with Chabad, who receive his support and reward him with loyalty and PR," the Jewish official said. "But anti-Semitism has not left Russia. It is in recession for now, and the ties between Putin and the Jews are stoking future hatred when a new leader comes along.”
more: (paywall unless you haven't been this week) http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-features/.premium-1.571274
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These are two of the three comments:
jew garbage and lying about jew persecution of Russia when jews empoverished russians
By kren
29 Jan 2014
08:26PM
not only that but these filthy jew maggots brought about bolshevik communism and millions of dead russians. jews are nothing but vermin so dont bother acting as victims no one buys your filthy Kol Nidre bs. you kikes deserve hell and worse. good jew=pig food your HaShem sucks dog dicks
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Jews profiting from building the Olympics
By Arnold-Canada
29 Jan 2014
06:59PM
I would be very curious to know how many Russian Jews are involved in this profiting from the Olympics. Then I would ask the question IF there are Jews involved in building the Olympics are these Jews supposed to lose money on the Olympics in order for the non-Jews to be happy ?
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