Lieberman (second from right) meets with Zatlers (third from left) on Sunday. It marks the in the first visit of an Israeli foreign minister to Latvia since the country became independent from the Soviet Union. Photo by the Latvian State Chancellery.
RIGA — Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman said he fears anti-Semitism is on the rise not only in Latvia but across Europe and that last week’s neo-Nazi procession is an indication of that.
“The lesson,” Lieberman told reporters at a press conference in Riga on Monday, “is that the Jewish people must always be prepared to defend themselves.”
Lieberman, in the first visit of an Israeli foreign minister to Latvia since the country became independent from the Soviet Union, praised the Latvian government’s handling of a procession last week honoring the 1941 invasion by Nazi Germany. The procession, which only 20 turned up for, was broken up by police with no violence, and while a few swastikas were discretely displayed no overtly anti-Semitic slogans were brandished, although the latter has occurred during the controversial annual Legionnaires’ Day that honors Latvian Waffen-SS veterans.
Lieberman said he appreciated the Latvian government’s support of Israel, noting that in today’s world anti-Semitism is frequently cloaked in anti-Israel rhetoric.
Zatlers (fourth from left) attends a ceremony marking the Holocaust in Latvia at Riga's Saviors Monument, which honors Latvians that sheltered Jews during the Nazi occupation. Photo by the Latvian State Chancellery.
Lieberman met with Latvian President Valdis Zatlers and foreign minister Aivis Ronis and in addition to the neo-Nazi parade discussed economic ties between the two countries and the restoration of formerly Jewish-owned property in Latvia, a divisive issue in the Baltic states after Jewish-owned land was nationalized by the Soviet government in 1940, confiscated under the Nazi occupation and subsequently re-nationalized by the Soviets along with most privately-owned land in the country.
A bill that would have given millions of lats to former Jewish property owners from the Latvian government as compensation was soundly defeated in the Saeima in 2006 and has not come up for debate since.
On Tuesday Lieberman will visit Lithuania and later this week Finland before returning to Israel. Meanwhile Zatlers on Sunday attended a ceremony marking the Holocaust in Latvia at the Saviors Monument on Gogoļa Street in Riga.
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From what i see and hear around europe these days is not so much anti-Semitism but more like anti Israeli policy.
I think many people feel that the use of being the forever ‘victimized’ people allows a nation to get away with policies that are considered unjust in the eyes of the international community.
It is becoming clear that today to criticize Israel often ends up with being labeled anti-Semitic.
Similarly we see something like this in the Baltics, where the local ethnic groups are very much a victimized people. Subsequently it is hard for locals to be portrayed as doing something oppressive and destructive, for example the collaboration with the Nazis that led to the almost complete annihilation of the local jewish community.
Having non local roots and living in the Baltics I can say that from my experience i do see and hear things that freak me out. Like at a bar the other day in Riga one guy screaming ‘Kill all Russians, Kill all Jews’ he was drunk but still i had to question where he got this crap from. Or the other day when one guy told me ‘it is better for you to go back home, it will be easier for you this way’ or last night a Russian guy telling me ‘There is no way you are English, stop f…ing with me’ all because i was talking terrible Latvian to him.
I guess no matter who you are or where your from, some one is gonna have something bad to say to you.
I don’t think the Baltic states need any lessons in racism from this man.
He has a fervent anti-Arab streak, so he knows all about persecution of oppressed ethnicities. Also he was convicted of attacking a twelve year old boy.
As individuals we all have our personal moments that have nothing to do with the latvian jews. To show some compassion for individual people cought in a war not of their own making is what makes us human. The never ending crucification of the Baltics by the jewish media has been unrelenting. Latvia was on the receiving end of thousands of jews transported by the nazis from germany from 1941-1944. How long is Latvia going to be punished by the actions of others? I feel sorry for them because they cannot seem to exist without constantly instigating hysteria and hatred. Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and even the russian people were victims of WWII. Who is actually commemorating the “nazis” more? Its seems each victimized group, be it the jews or blacks etc. want their never ending pound of flesh. I wish latvians had the same energy to remind the world how they suffered for 50 years under the Soviet Union’s communist regime.
it is probably too late to respond, and nobody will see it, but still, it is worth while straightening the record. Jeldridge has a thoughful comment, but complained how being “Anti israeli policy” is portrayed as being anti-semitic. There is a reason: Most of those in the Baltics who “oppose the Israeli policy” do not know or understand the history and the true situaiton on the ground. They misidentify with the Palestinians, seeing them as a minority who wants independence, like the Latvians wanted independence from the Soviets.
The situation in reality is very different. The Arabs are the huge nation with oil power, the majority of whom still do not accept the right of Israel to exist. The reason there is no Palestinian state yet is just that – no Palestinian or general Arab agreement to make a permanent peace. Just see the “moderate” PLO retoric when talking unification with the Islamist “Hamas”.
Can you imagine Russia demanding a Russian state on half of Latvia, with Riga as the capital, Latvia delegated to a sliver of land with Latvian majority, but legally binational with Russians, and then have Russia and the new Russian state in Riga “latvian free” with a death penalty for any Russian who sells land to a Latvian? Crazy? – these are exactly the Palestinian demands of Israel. They actually want the new state of Palestine to be “Jew-free” by law.
The policy of the government of Israel is to demand a real peace, with permanent renunciaiton of terrorism, and stopping all attacks on Israeli civilians, as well as recognition of the basic Jewish human rights regarding life, places of worship, historical sites. Israel wants to continue to exist as the home of the Jewish people. This has been the policy of all the governments of Israel. Those who “oppose israeli policies” typically oppose any goverment Israel elects, right or left, even the most dovish. This leads me and many other Jews to believe that these people oppose the very idea of a right of the Jews to self determination, safe borders, life in their ancestral homeland of Israel, etc. Well, that to me is antisemitic.