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Anti-Semitism in Armenia
By Alexander Murinson
Dec. 17, 2014
[Murinson, PhD, is a professor at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic
Studies, Bar-Ilan University International; Advisory Board member of
Outre-Terre, the European Journal of Geopolitics; and author of
Turkey's Entente with Israel and Azerbaijan: State Identity and
Security in the Middle East and Caucasus.]
While the Armenian diaspora clamors for international recognition of
their treatment during World War I, at the same time Armenians have a
dirty secret crying for international recognition: brazen
anti-Semitism and a profound hatred of Israel. This hypocritical
streak runs deep within Armenian society.
Horrifically, many Armenians have taken to addressing Jews as `ocar,'
the Armenian word for soap. This is an underhanded reference to the
Nazi practice of turning corpses of the victims of their extermination
camps into soap, wallets, lampshades and other `useful' things. It has
taken far less obvious intolerance to destroy a political campaign,
yet, incongruously, certain members of Congress support the agenda of
Armenia and its diaspora.
In the Armenian body politic today, anti-Semitism is readily relied
upon to besmirch or delegitimize political opponents. WikiLeaks cited
a 2008 U.S. Department of State cable subtitled `ARMENIAN PRESS
CONTINUES TO USE ANTI-SEMITISM TO VILIFY THE OPPOSITION.' Beginning in
mid-May 2008, pro-government print media and state-run public
television made outlandish anti-Semitic and anti-Masonic accusations
against leaders of political opposition with gusto. Even a former
Armenian president, Levon Ter-Petrossian, did not escape paranoid
anti-Semitic diatribes against him in Armenian print media and even
state-run television, simply because his wife is fabled to be Jewish.
According to the cable in WikiLeaks, the accusations appeared in
several scathing articles in the pro-government Russian-language Golos
Armenii (Voice of Armenia) and Armenian-language Hayots Ashkhar
(Armenian World) dailies. The articles portray Ter-Petrossian is as a
traitor to Armenia and claim his true allegiance lies to the West --
particularly to Israel and the Freemasons. Both papers also published
an article entitled "Levon Hakob Ter-Petrosan or Levon Frayim
Pliskovsky -- Armenian National Congress or Jewish Congress?" The
author questions Ter-Petrossian's loyalty to the Armenian state by
speculating on his alleged conspiratorial meeting with a wealthy
Russian Jewish businessman where he presumably received $100-200
million USD for his presidential campaign. The author then claims
that "the Jewish-Masonic lobby spent $65-70 million USD on the same
campaign.
American-Jewish organizations, who visited Armenia on good will
missions through the years following Armenian independence in 1991,
received their share of anti-Semitic vitriol in the Armenian press. If
these assertions are to be believed, the May 27-28, 2011 visit to
Armenia of representatives of the American Jewish Committee was for
Ter-Petrossian to receive further instructions on how to advance the
Jewish cause. "It will be extremely interesting to ask L.
Ter-Petrossian why the members of the Jewish-American Committee (sic)
(arguably the most effective and prestigious Jewish organization in
the United States and Europe) are arriving in Armenia on May 27-28?
It should be noted that those arriving in Armenia are not ordinary
members of the organization but rather, its leaders, i.e. Peter
Rosenblatt, Barry Jabes (sic) and John Waters. According to available
information, the leaders of the Jewish organization want L.
Ter-Petrossian to report to them on his accomplishments; thereafter,
they will specify the ex-President's further steps in the following
three directions: 1. Armenia's domestic problems; 2. US-Armenian
relations; and 3. Turkish-Armenian relations." Such fear-ridden
propaganda has become regular fare in the Armenian press today, and
has created a Nazi-reminiscent atmosphere. As this climate of
vilification in Armenia spreads, the small remnant of Jews in Armenia
unsurprisingly lives in fear.
The Jewish community in Armenia is caught in a limbo between not
upsetting the authorities vs. the need to raise an alarm about
Armenia's increasingly hostile atmosphere towards Jews. In a country
with state-controlled media, it is almost impossible to find criticism
of the current government's anti-Semitic campaign; only the lone voice
of Rimma Varzhapetian, head of Armenia's Jewish community, has raised
an alarm. According to the WikiLeaks cable, Ms. Varzhapetian
expressed her distress about the articles, calling them "a provocation
and a kindling of anti-Semitism." She added that "I am afraid to
think that this has the backing of the people in power." Varzhapetian
said that she has no plans for a public response, though she believes
it is incumbent upon the international community to condemn the
hateful rhetoric. She noted with concern that people are starting to
believe such hateful lies, including some of her acquaintances. They
have reacted to her remonstrations about the anti-Semitic articles by
attributing her objections to the fact that she is Jewish.
Since ancient times, Armenian lands were not welcoming of Jews, yet
their South Caucasus neighbors, Georgia and Azerbaijan, proudly claim
the mantle of protection and tolerance towards their Jewish
compatriots. The American tax payers spend quite a lot of money each
year as `friends of Armenia' via acts of Congress. Perhaps it is time
for Congress (and the American voters) to reconsider?
From: A. Papazian
Anti-Semitism in Armenia
By Alexander Murinson
Dec. 17, 2014
[Murinson, PhD, is a professor at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic
Studies, Bar-Ilan University International; Advisory Board member of
Outre-Terre, the European Journal of Geopolitics; and author of
Turkey's Entente with Israel and Azerbaijan: State Identity and
Security in the Middle East and Caucasus.]
While the Armenian diaspora clamors for international recognition of
their treatment during World War I, at the same time Armenians have a
dirty secret crying for international recognition: brazen
anti-Semitism and a profound hatred of Israel. This hypocritical
streak runs deep within Armenian society.
Horrifically, many Armenians have taken to addressing Jews as `ocar,'
the Armenian word for soap. This is an underhanded reference to the
Nazi practice of turning corpses of the victims of their extermination
camps into soap, wallets, lampshades and other `useful' things. It has
taken far less obvious intolerance to destroy a political campaign,
yet, incongruously, certain members of Congress support the agenda of
Armenia and its diaspora.
In the Armenian body politic today, anti-Semitism is readily relied
upon to besmirch or delegitimize political opponents. WikiLeaks cited
a 2008 U.S. Department of State cable subtitled `ARMENIAN PRESS
CONTINUES TO USE ANTI-SEMITISM TO VILIFY THE OPPOSITION.' Beginning in
mid-May 2008, pro-government print media and state-run public
television made outlandish anti-Semitic and anti-Masonic accusations
against leaders of political opposition with gusto. Even a former
Armenian president, Levon Ter-Petrossian, did not escape paranoid
anti-Semitic diatribes against him in Armenian print media and even
state-run television, simply because his wife is fabled to be Jewish.
According to the cable in WikiLeaks, the accusations appeared in
several scathing articles in the pro-government Russian-language Golos
Armenii (Voice of Armenia) and Armenian-language Hayots Ashkhar
(Armenian World) dailies. The articles portray Ter-Petrossian is as a
traitor to Armenia and claim his true allegiance lies to the West --
particularly to Israel and the Freemasons. Both papers also published
an article entitled "Levon Hakob Ter-Petrosan or Levon Frayim
Pliskovsky -- Armenian National Congress or Jewish Congress?" The
author questions Ter-Petrossian's loyalty to the Armenian state by
speculating on his alleged conspiratorial meeting with a wealthy
Russian Jewish businessman where he presumably received $100-200
million USD for his presidential campaign. The author then claims
that "the Jewish-Masonic lobby spent $65-70 million USD on the same
campaign.
American-Jewish organizations, who visited Armenia on good will
missions through the years following Armenian independence in 1991,
received their share of anti-Semitic vitriol in the Armenian press. If
these assertions are to be believed, the May 27-28, 2011 visit to
Armenia of representatives of the American Jewish Committee was for
Ter-Petrossian to receive further instructions on how to advance the
Jewish cause. "It will be extremely interesting to ask L.
Ter-Petrossian why the members of the Jewish-American Committee (sic)
(arguably the most effective and prestigious Jewish organization in
the United States and Europe) are arriving in Armenia on May 27-28?
It should be noted that those arriving in Armenia are not ordinary
members of the organization but rather, its leaders, i.e. Peter
Rosenblatt, Barry Jabes (sic) and John Waters. According to available
information, the leaders of the Jewish organization want L.
Ter-Petrossian to report to them on his accomplishments; thereafter,
they will specify the ex-President's further steps in the following
three directions: 1. Armenia's domestic problems; 2. US-Armenian
relations; and 3. Turkish-Armenian relations." Such fear-ridden
propaganda has become regular fare in the Armenian press today, and
has created a Nazi-reminiscent atmosphere. As this climate of
vilification in Armenia spreads, the small remnant of Jews in Armenia
unsurprisingly lives in fear.
The Jewish community in Armenia is caught in a limbo between not
upsetting the authorities vs. the need to raise an alarm about
Armenia's increasingly hostile atmosphere towards Jews. In a country
with state-controlled media, it is almost impossible to find criticism
of the current government's anti-Semitic campaign; only the lone voice
of Rimma Varzhapetian, head of Armenia's Jewish community, has raised
an alarm. According to the WikiLeaks cable, Ms. Varzhapetian
expressed her distress about the articles, calling them "a provocation
and a kindling of anti-Semitism." She added that "I am afraid to
think that this has the backing of the people in power." Varzhapetian
said that she has no plans for a public response, though she believes
it is incumbent upon the international community to condemn the
hateful rhetoric. She noted with concern that people are starting to
believe such hateful lies, including some of her acquaintances. They
have reacted to her remonstrations about the anti-Semitic articles by
attributing her objections to the fact that she is Jewish.
Since ancient times, Armenian lands were not welcoming of Jews, yet
their South Caucasus neighbors, Georgia and Azerbaijan, proudly claim
the mantle of protection and tolerance towards their Jewish
compatriots. The American tax payers spend quite a lot of money each
year as `friends of Armenia' via acts of Congress. Perhaps it is time
for Congress (and the American voters) to reconsider?
From: A. Papazian