BELARUS PRESIDENT'S ANTI-SEMITIC SLURS

Belarus Jews stay calm in face of president's anti-Semitic slurs (JPost)
Despite Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's anti-Semitic slurs against the city of Bobruisk and Israel, the prevailing mood of the isolated European nation's Jewish community is one of surprising calm.

"We are not concerned by the statement," said Dr. Yakov Basin, the first deputy chairman of the Union of Belarusian Jewish Organizations and Communities. "What worries us are other things -- in 20 years not a single person has been punished for anti-Semitic vandalism to the cemetery, etc. The Holocaust is not recognized as a unique historical phenomenon as it is in other countries."

Behind the scenes, Jewish community leaders in Belarus believe that Jews were not the speech's intended recipients but may have been used as a scapegoat.

Lukashenko during a live radio broadcast on Oct. 12 said of Bobruisk, a port city in the central part of the country, "This is a Jewish city, and the Jews are not concerned for the place they live in. They have turned Bobruisk into a pig sty. Look at Israel -- I was there."

Community leaders believe the mention of Israel was a calculated message by Lukashenko to the leadership of Iran. Since its controversial president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, visited Minsk in May, the two countries reportedly cemented plans for a "strategic partnership" and trade has dramatically increased between them.

A leading communal figure who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of business reprisals in the repressed former Soviet republic, confirmed to JTA that things have changed dramatically since Belarus and Iran became partners.

"Since Iran has linked up with Belarus, there's been a distinct anti-Israel flavor in Belarus," the leader said.