Recently returned from studying in Russia, Miriam Pollock tries to make sense of the paradoxical attitudes she encountered toward Jews. On the one hand, unflattering jokes, caricatures, and so forth are widespread; on the other hand, both Jews and non-Jews deny there is anti-Semitism in Russia, anti-Semitic violence is relatively rare (especially in comparison with the Russia of a century ago), and there is little evidence of discrimination, Nevertheless, there are real grounds for worry:
For the moment, Russian anti-Semitism is mostly latent. But one feels it could easily develop into something more sinister. The foundation [is there]. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has increased diplomatic, economic, and military ties with Iran, and has stepped up his country’s military involvement in Syria. He has hinted that Israel’s air strikes against Iranian-backed Islamist groups in the Golan Heights might prove to be a sticking point.
What if—despite Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu’s recently agreed-upon “mechanism” to prevent misunderstandings—Israeli and Russian military forces come into conflict in Syria? The situation could spiral out of control very quickly, and Russian Jews could find themselves blamed for Israel’s actions. Moreover, the Russian economy is struggling, and when the economy suffers, Jews tend to become scapegoats. The leap from racist jokes to racist violence is not as big as we’d like to think.
Read more on Tower: http://www.thetower.org/article/the-curious-question-of-russian-anti-semitism/