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Last update - 08:06 25/02/2007
Israeli Web sites post Nazi, Holocaust-denial materials
By Moti Katz, Haaretz Correspondent

Haaretz has uncovered Internet sites put up by Israelis in their 30s who immigrated from the CIS that supply Nazi and Russian nationalist content.

In 2003 a Web site operated by Ilia Zolotov, an Israel Defense Forces soldier who called himself a "Russian patriot," was exposed. The Web site, whose name translates to the White Israeli Union, was housed on an Israeli server. Its content included Nazi and Holocaust-denial materials. It was eventually closed down by the police. Zolotov was sentenced to community service and sent on a tour of death camps in Poland.

Since the closure of Zolotov's Web site, his successors have gotten more sophisticated. Now they use servers based abroad, usually in Russia, to evade the authorities. One such site operator is Alex [a pseudonym], who is in his 30s and holds a security-related job. His site, www.rusnatcentre.tk, is hosted by a Russian server. Alex refers to himself on the site as "the Russian tank operator" or "the fighter from Jerusalem," a tribute to his service in the Armored Corps. In a conversation with Haaretz, he denied that his site carries anti-Semitic messages, asserting that it is pro-Russian only.
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"The Russian National Center is a Russian nationalist association that lives in Israel," Alex explains. "The main mission of our organization is nationalist propaganda among ethnic Russians residing in Israel, encouraging their return to Russia, opposing the return of Jews from Israel to Russia, and opposing conversion to Judaism," Alex said. He will not reveal membership figures, saying only it is a "global organization whose members are adults, most of them after army service and the majority living in the center of the country."

A Haaretz probe reveals that the RNC site is indeed Russian nationalist in nature, but it also contains anti-Semitic material. The home page features a Celtic cross, a symbol that has been adopted by neo-Nazis, and warns all Jews who have immigrated to Israel not to dare to return to Russia. It calls on all non-Jewish Russians who immigrated to Israel to return to Russia and to leave the Jews [using the derogatory Russian term zhid] in their country.

Alex is active on other, specifically Nazi, forums, such as www.slavnazi.com, in which he recommended Jurgen Graf's "The Myth of the Holocaust" to readers in July 2005. There were 118 favorable responses from Israel to that posting.

Alex also regularly recommends films and music in Russian with Nazi content. One of his recommendations in the latter category is Kolovrat, which is known as a Nazi band. About a year ago the band members were arrested and banned for distributing Nazi propaganda when they traveled to the Czech Republic on a concert tour. Alex's site asks readers to sign a petition calling for the group's release, which has garnered about 150 signatures from Israeli Internet users.

Alex gets mad when he is asked whether the call to release Kolovrat is anti-Semitic. "Of course such an action won't please the Jews, like any other action on the part of Russian nationalist!" Alex says.

When asked whether the mass Jewish immigration of Russian Jews in the 1990s was a mistake, he says it depends which immigrants you mean. "The Jewish immigration to Israel is the best and only solution, apparently, to the Jewish question in Russia. On the other hand, the mass emigration of ethnic Russians from Russia is a big mistake that we [the RNC] must correct."

Dr. Elana Gomel, chair of the English Department at Tel Aviv University and author of "Atem ve'anachnu" ("You and Us"), a book on being Russian in Israel, agrees that there is anti-Semitism in Israel. "After the collapse of Communism," she says, "states that were part of the Soviet Union licked their wounds and looked for ways to make up for the downfall, and it came in the form of reinforcing their nationalism. The vacuum left by Communism was filled by fascism and Nazism," Gomel says.

"Their message is, 'if I'm not accepted here as a Jew, then I'll remain Russian,'" Gomel said. "The enormous gap in mentality between the cultures of the Sabras and the immigrants doesn't help their absorption into society and they develop antagonism to Israeli society. The absurdity," Gomel adds, "is that even if the anti-Semitic nationalists return to Russia, the Russian anti-Semites won't accept them and will persecute them just as people of Jewish extraction in the Wehrmacht during the Nazi regime were persecuted. The phenomenon is sick because it is a form of self-flagellation that cannot be stopped," Gomel said.

Vandalism as an expression of anti-Semitism in Israel
Six minors, immigrants from the CIS, were arrested early this year on suspicion of burning flags and stealing mezuzahs from Nahshonim School in Bat Yam. They also confessed to stealing mezuzahs from homes in the city on eight additional occasions. The teens attributed their actions to a hatred for Jews and Judaism. In the past three months, there have been five break-ins at synagogues in the southern city of Arad. All of the incidents have involved vandalism, the theft of charity boxes and the scrawling of obscenities on the walls.

In the past several years there have been similar incidents carried out by young immigrants from the CIS, including the desecration of Jewish cemeteries, throughout the country. Many religious institutions have instituted security measures as a result. In 2006 there were at least six reports of broken headstones, desecration of synagogues and graffiti with swastikas and anti-Semitic sentiments, according to figures gathered by Damir, an organization that assists victims of anti-Semitism.

Hitler youth
Irina, 18, lives in central Israel. She belonged to a group of young people, "Nazi skinheads," that terrorized the ultra-Orthodox residents of a central-Israel city. "I was a 'skin girl,'" relates Irina, whose was the girlfriend of the group's leader, Leonid [a pseudonym - M.K.]. Leonid, who is now about 19, immigrated at age 10 from Azerbaijan on the Law of Return. The only Jew in his family was one of his grandfathers.

Irina says that Leonid's downslide began in the ninth grade. He felt alienated from Israeli society and decided to join up with a Nazi skinhead group. "We were a bunch of Russian new immigrants, boys and girls," Irina relates. "Most of the boys had shaved heads and wore army pants."

A group of about 15 teens who believed in the Nazi ideology coalesced around Leonid. One of their favorite activities, Irina says, was attacking Haredi. "Nazi skinheads hate the religious, especially Haredim, for them the Haredim are the ugly Jews ... On weekends we'd meet in the parks, drinking and smoking and listening to Nazi music," and then they would go out in search of dossim [a derogatory Hebrew term for religious Jews], Irina related. "On Hitler's birthday we'd met at a cemetery and celebrate," she said.



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  1.   Did non Jewish Russians... 04:48  |  Maureen Ann 25/02/07
  2.   PLEASE GO BACK TO RUSSIA! 05:27  |  everyjewinisrael 25/02/07
  3.   Israeli Nazis? 05:31  |  JOJO 25/02/07
  4.   Sad, I hope Real Russian Jews are not blamed for this... 05:39  |  Tom 25/02/07
  5.   Send them back if they hate it so much! 05:45  |  Larry 25/02/07
  6.   Arrogance begets arrogance 06:28  |  Lev 25/02/07
  7.   Russian Jews and Russian Christians 06:29  |  Al 25/02/07
  8.   send the trash back to russia 06:39  |  bob 25/02/07
  9.   Nazi Russians 06:41  |  Ruth Broch 25/02/07
  10.   They are not worse than some Haaretz articles 06:51  |  Jake 25/02/07
  11.   Jews only, no Russians please 07:03  |  benji 25/02/07
  12.   why the surprise? 07:29  |  arab 25/02/07
  13.   Al, this Mideast of yours is bigger than Russia 07:31  |  Jake 25/02/07
  14.   What about haredi Holocost denyers 07:33  |  Yuri 25/02/07
  15.   the solution 07:45  |  paul 25/02/07
  16.   LAW 07:47  |  Terry 25/02/07
  17.   Russian nationalism only to be expected 07:58  |  Pete Eriksen 25/02/07
  18.   Response to Jake 08:09  |  Al 25/02/07
  19.   To Paul 08:20  |  Hardball 25/02/07
  20.   Good. Go back to your miserable frozen Russia. 08:30  |  Jay 25/02/07
  21.   Russians/Ashkenazim are not Jews by definition 08:37  |  Doron Katz 25/02/07
  22.   Give the scoundrels the real terms in jail (like Zuendel in Germ) 08:39  |  Vittorio 25/02/07
  23.   To Al - I am Palestinian (Greek). 08:41  |  Doron Katz 25/02/07
  24.   It`s the (hot) climate, Stupid !! 09:00  |  Swiss (Dino) 25/02/07
  25.   www.pogrom.org.il reveals the extent of anti-Semitism in Israel! 09:13  |  Roni 25/02/07
  26.   Did you catch this ??? 10:13  |  JustWondering 25/02/07
  27.   Well, I Guess Hollingsworth Made Aliyah! 10:16  |  Yosemite 25/02/07
  28.   How charming 10:22  |  Marilyn 25/02/07
  29.   Laws of return - a problem of magnitude 10:23  |  Fabian 25/02/07
  30.   Whatever next!!! 10:59  |  Deborah 25/02/07
  31.   #21 Doran Katz "Biologically inferior." 11:02  |  Maureen Ann 25/02/07
  32.   Russian, Jews and others 11:29  |  Dario Miccoli 25/02/07
  33.   Which in a democracy is her right 12:04  |  Chris Linthwaite 25/02/07
  34.   Maybe we should do to them what they did to us 12:07  |  Sam 25/02/07
  35.   #7 THE SAME RIGHT AL AS ANYONE HAS TO SETTLE ANYWHERE 12:09  |  paul harris 25/02/07
  36.   we dont need these nazis here!!!! 12:12  |  alonitzafoni 25/02/07
  37.   Russian Jews and non-Jews should come to US 12:17  |  Yuri 25/02/07
  38.   Melting pot based on Jewish grandfather...? 12:28  |  Andreas 25/02/07
  39.   Israel should round up the Russian Nazis and 12:31  |  cv 25/02/07
  40.   # 16 LAW 12:36  |  Traude 25/02/07
  41.   this 12:46  |  dan 25/02/07
  42.   Jake - How dare Israel challenge the MIGHT OF THE SWORD 13:07  |  Skandar 25/02/07
  43.   It is called Elana: segregation 13:37  |  From the Moon 25/02/07
  44.   ISRAELI NAZIS? 13:45  |  yehudiminhagola 25/02/07
  45.   Russian Jews and Russian Christians 13:56  |  yehudiminhagola 25/02/07
  46.   why the surprise? 14:02  |  yehudiminhagola 25/02/07
  47.   What is so special about being a Jew? 14:20  |  Marilyn 25/02/07
  48.   Logical conclusion.. 14:40  |  cavler crociatus 25/02/07
  49.   #47.....marilyn on crawling around in a sewer 14:58  |  Ari ben Yisrael 25/02/07
  50.   Marilyn-what r u talking about? 14:59  |  Sam 25/02/07
  51.   Marylin and the Holy Grail 15:03  |  Ronnie Wolman 25/02/07
  52.   #47 MARYLIN ESPOUSES EXTREME JEALOUSY 15:13  |  paul harris 25/02/07
  53.   yuri 15:15  |  alonitzafoni 25/02/07
  54.   Special?..No. 15:15  |  Akiva Patysh, Tzioni 25/02/07
  55.   to marilyn #47 15:26  |  alonitzafoni 25/02/07
  56.   Many so called Nazi activities in Germany were done by foreigners 15:26  |  Fritz 25/02/07
  57.   yesterday Haaretz posted a holocaust denier 15:32  |  bev 25/02/07
  58.   Marilyn, what is special about being a Jew 15:40  |  boxley 25/02/07
  59.   marilyn 15:53  |  bev 25/02/07
  60.   Marilyn: How Many Jews Read the Melbourne Times? 16:11  |  Ronnie Wolman 25/02/07
  61.   marilyn £47 16:15  |  Aliza 25/02/07
  62.   Russian`s problems 16:30  |  Avrum 25/02/07
  63.   Are All Russians anti-Semites 16:33  |  Dr. Ari Nir 25/02/07
  64.   Whether they are Jewish or just ethnic Russians. 16:34  |  The Equalizer 25/02/07
  65.   @Aliza 16:39  |  Fabian 25/02/07
  66.   Marilyn, If you have to ask, you have no soul. 16:44  |  The Equalizer 25/02/07
  67.   Sociological problem 16:59  |  Fabian 25/02/07
  68.   Russian Jews need Yiddish 17:25  |  Annie H. Cotton 25/02/07
  69.   Jews: You should deprive the scoundrels of Israel Citizenship.... 17:33  |  Vittorio 25/02/07
  70.   need yiddish??? 17:38  |  alonitzafoni 25/02/07
  71.   #47 Marlynn 17:45  |  Racon-tour 25/02/07
  72.   Racon-Tour: In Our Defence 18:32  |  Ronnie Wolman 25/02/07
  73.   How can I support the Russian national centre 19:41  |  Danite 25/02/07
  74.   Look for the reasons & take notice 19:54  |  TonyL 25/02/07
  75.   Many ways to deal with the problem 20:17  |  Alicia 25/02/07
  76.   marilyn 20:17  |  Danite 25/02/07
  77.   Fritz 20:19  |  Danite 25/02/07
  78.   bev 20:51  |  Danite 25/02/07
  79.   #1 Maureen Ann displays her ignorance AGAIN 21:01  |  * BEN JABO 25/02/07
  80.   MARYLIN 21:07  |  JOJO 25/02/07
  81.   Al, is that a trick question? 21:18  |  Jake 25/02/07
  82.   Doron Katz, Russia is closer to Israel than Sydney 21:25  |  Jake 25/02/07
  83.   Send police to infiltrate these groups... 21:26  |  Noam 25/02/07
  84.   23 Doron Katz 21:27  |  Daniel Cohen 25/02/07
  85.   Doron, Greek Jews are Sephardic/Romaniote Hebrews, not Philistine 21:28  |  Jake 25/02/07
  86.   Skandar, I wouldn`t threaten others if I were you 21:36  |  Jake 25/02/07
  87.   Al - the jews 22:46  |  bev 25/02/07
  88.   Skandar, it`s better you don`t threaten others 22:56  |  Jake 25/02/07
  89.   #72 Ronnie wolman Part 1 23:05  |  Racon-tour 25/02/07
  90.   #72 Ronnie Wolman 23:20  |  Racon-tour 25/02/07
  91.   Maureen Ann-#1-Who can become Israeli 01:24  |  Daniel Leopold 26/02/07
  92.   Again You are not fed up using holocaust 01:29  |  Samir salameh 26/02/07
  93.   Doron Katz-#21-I strongly disagree with you 01:34  |  Daniel Leopold 26/02/07
  94.   Marilyn-#47-What`s so special about being a Jew? 01:47  |  Daniel Leopold 26/02/07
  95.   Danite-#76-About Marilyn 02:06  |  Daniel Leopold 26/02/07
  96.   #76Danite What is happening in Israel today... 02:13  |  Maureen Ann 26/02/07
  97.   Samir salameh-#81 what`s your problem? 02:38  |  Daniel Leopold 26/02/07
  98.   Ha ha ha ha ha 03:02  |  Rockin` Bob 26/02/07
  99.   #77... 03:04  |  Fritz 26/02/07
  100.   They are Hebrew University faculty 03:14  |  Herbert Kaine 26/02/07
  101.   Marilyn, What is so special about being a Jew? 03:19  |  Bruce 26/02/07
  102.   #83Danial Leopold Hi, the best advice... 03:26  |  Maureen Ann 26/02/07
  103.   Russian concept of anti-semitism is different 03:35  |  Bruce 26/02/07
  104.   Maureen Ann, you have stated that Rudd is your 2nd choice for PM 03:51  |  Mimi 26/02/07
  105.   Danite #73, for your info 03:58  |  Bruce 26/02/07
  106.   #87 Well, good for you!! 04:31  |  ballistic 26/02/07
  107.   Haaretz, please post this for Maureen Ann with corrections 04:57  |  Mimi 26/02/07
  108.   Well, this all sounds like justice in the making! 05:02  |  ballistic 26/02/07
  109.   Maureen Anne 05:30  |  Danite 26/02/07
  110.   Daniel Leopold 05:34  |  Danite 26/02/07
  111.   Bruce 05:36  |  Danite 26/02/07
  112.   Maureen Ann-#93-About your advice 05:54  |  Daniel Leopold 26/02/07
  113.   OH DEAR MARILYN 07:56  |  I love being Jewish 26/02/07
  114.   #107 Mimi Australia has two... 08:01  |  Maureen Ann 26/02/07
  115.   can all 14 million come stay in australia??? 08:04  |  alonitzafoni 26/02/07
  116.   #79BEN JABO Well at least I know... 08:05  |  Maureen Ann 26/02/07
  117.   ballistic #108 08:07  |  alonitzafoni 26/02/07
  118.   #47 Marilyn Mankind 08:35  |  maoriboy 26/02/07
  119.   amend Law of Return 14:30  |  Miriam Erez מרים ארז 26/02/07
  120.   "send `em back" -- terrific, but who brought `em here? 14:37  |  Miriam Erez מרים ארז 26/02/07
  121.   disrespect for Russian immigrants? You bet... 14:42  |  Miriam Erez מרים ארז 26/02/07
  122.   amend Law of Return II 14:43  |  Miriam Erez מרים ארז 26/02/07
  123.   nice suggestion, Alicia... 14:48  |  Miriam Erez מרים ארז 26/02/07
  124.   #114 Maureen Ann 15:34  |  * BEN JABO 26/02/07
  125.   TO Miriam #123 17:25  |  Alicia 26/02/07
  126.   WHOA... 07:08  |  Roman Melnychuk 13/10/07
  127.   bashing slavs 07:09  |  Roman 13/10/07
  128.   Jewish imigration 08:31  |  Janet 04/11/07
  129.   Right on Marilyn 08:40  |  Janet Philips 04/11/07
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