Neo-Nazis in Israel / The photos of Vladimir and his swastika tattoo wrecked his family - Haaretz

Subscribe to Print Edition

Mon., September 10, 2007 Elul 27, 5767

Israel Time: 02:04 (EST+7)

web haaretz.com

Back to Homepage

Print Edition

Diplomacy

Defense

Arts & Leisure

Real Estate

Jewish World

National

Advertising

Magazine

Week's End

Business

Opinion

Rosner's Domain

Anglo File

Books

Travel

del.icio.us

Digg It! new

Neo-Nazis in Israel / The photos of Vladimir and his swastika tattoo wrecked his family

By Moti Katz

"The police have it in for us because we're Russian. Our son is a delinquent, but he's not against the state. In Israel, he was thrown to the dogs," the mother of Arik (Eli) Bunyatov, the alleged leader of a neo-Nazi cell in Petah Tikva, said in court yesterday.

Police suspect the group of carrying out numerous assaults on foreign workers, punk rockers, religious Jews, homosexuals and drug addicts.

	Advertisement

Bunyatov's mother also told the court of the economic problems of her family, which she supports by cleaning stairwells.

The Bunyatovs' story resembles that of the Tronorotskys. Vladimir Tronorotsky was arrested on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day in 2005 on suspicion of drug possession. A search of his person revealed a swastika tattoo on his arm, the photos of which rocked the country when they were made public. A search of the family home, in Ariel, in the West Bank, turned up neo-Nazi materials.

Like the parents of the suspects arrested on Saturday, Vladimir's father, Alex, claims his son never belonged to a neo-Nazi organization. "Vlodya wasn't anti-Semitic. The whole story was a distortion by the police and the media. And the existence of the anti-Semitic propaganda the police claim they found was never proven," Alex Tronorotsky insisted.

Alex claims his son's swastika tattoo was an attempt to get out of the army. "After being screwed over all the time, he had finally had it. He came home and showed me his arms and said, 'Now they're sure to take me out of the army, the Jews can't stand that.' I told him, 'Vladimir, are you nuts? Do you know what that is? It's the Nazi symbol. Your grandfather fought them when he served in the Red Army. The Nazis were crazy.'" Yaakov, Alex's father, was angry when he heard the story. "He couldn't understand how that had happened to his grandson," Alex said.

Alex was 14 when he learned that he was Jewish. "It was no big deal. Most Russian Jews didn't go to synagogue, and it didn't bother me. My wife, Yvetta, also grew up in a home where her mother had a lot of Jewish neighbors, who were her friends." After deciding to leave Latvia, they debated over a destination. "Because of Yvetta, we immigrated to Israel, because we were afraid of anti-Semitism. In the end, when we came here and the thing with Alex blew up in our faces, we were called anti-Semites. What a paradox!"

In Israel, the family first lived in a religious neighborhood of Kfar Avraham, in the Petah Tikva area. "It's not easy being half-Jewish in Israel," Alex said. "We came here without a clear identity and suffered because of it." Alex said that Vladimir was not allowed to enroll at a religious school because Yvetta is not Jewish. At one point after moving to Israel, they considered having their sons circumcised, but decided against it. "Yvetta is Christian and we're atheists, anyway .... Vlodya didn't consider himself Jewish; he wore a cross and said he was Christian like his mother," Alex related.

The media attention on the case in 2005 changed the family completely. "The night after the story was in the media, I heard shouting outside the house. I looked out the window and saw our neighbors demonstrating, calling on us to leave Ariel, that it was no place for Nazis," Alex said. "I was mad at them, I didn't even want to try to explain. I yelled at them to leave. It was unpleasant, but I didn't care."

The family eventually moved to Migdalim, a nearby settlement. But the notoriety followed them there. Among other incidents, someone sent a letter of complaint to Damir, a nonprofit organization that assists victims of anti-Semitism, charging that the Tronorotskys were attempting to hide, perhaps from the law. In the end, the family decided to return to Latvia, but Alex and their 19-year-old son remained in Israel. "He has an Israeli girlfriend, he speaks fluent Hebrew and he wants to join the army," Alex said.

Bookmark to del.icio.us


	Tree lovers
	Many decades-old trees are jeopardized by development, but some are saved.


	Take the plunge
	Israel is finally getting over its aquaphobia as more adults take swimming lessons.

Today Online


	Avraham Burg: Muslims as the Jews of the 21st Century
	Responses: 213


	Syria: IAF planes dropped live ammunition in flyover
	Responses: 289


	Citing Holocaust, Shas ministers to boycott German cars
	Responses: 119


	Suspected Israeli neo-Nazis remanded; indictments expected
	Responses: 108


	Haaretz.com TV: Intermarriage: U.S. love affair with Jews?
	Responses: 65

More Headlines
21:02 Damascus: IAF planes dropped live ammunition on Syria during flyover


00:42 Police chief: There are dozens of active neo-Nazis in Israel


00:28 Olmert tells Abbas he will back prisoner release ahead of Ramadan


00:02 Border Police officer sentenced to jail for ordering Hebron robberies


01:17 Officials: Haniyeh proposes he meet with Abbas in Mecca


21:30 State Prosecutor calls for two new criminal probes into PM


00:35 Police: Anti-Semitic insult preceded Frankfurt rabbi stabbing


21:05 2006 report: Israel's population 7.2 million, growing slowly


22:01 PMO Counter-Terrorism Bureau warns Israelis not to travel to Colombia