Israel: conference canceled over Łukašenka’s antisemitic remarks
June 18, Pozirk. The organizers in Israel have canceled a conference marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus from the Nazis because of Alaksandar Łukašenka’s recent antisemitic remark, a reliable source has told Pozirk.
The Chaim Herzog Museum of the Jewish Soldier planned to hold the conference on June 27.
It was to include a wreath-laying ceremony for Jewish partisans and ghetto fighters, a dinner and a World War II exhibition.
An association of Jewish refugees and Holocaust survivors and the All-Israeli Association of Immigrants from Belarus were organizing the conference with support from the Belarusian embassy.
Łukašenka made the controversial remark on June 14, while discussing a corruption probe involving dozens of officials.
“I beg your pardon, I’m not antisemitic, but more than half of them are Jews,” he said. “Do they have a privileged position in our country, that they steal and do not think about their future?”
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz described the statement as “unacceptable and outrageous,” jns.org reported. Such statements “sound like clear antisemitic comments,” Katz noted.
In the past, Łukašenka demonstrated his antisemitic views on several occasions. Back in 2007, he blamed Jews for turning Babrujsk, a Belarusian city with rich Jewish history, into a “pigsty.”
In 2015, he said he wanted to keep the Jewish population “under control” and reign in Jews such as the late founder of tut.by Juryj Zisier.
Opposition leader condemns Łukašenka's anti-Semitic statements
- PoliticsLithuanian FM outrage by “extremist” label for European Humanities UniversityThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- EconomyBelarus’ foreign minister meets with Kazakh president in AstanaThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- PoliticsEuropean Humanities University supports radical, destructive groups, official saysThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics
- Politics, SecurityUkraine recognizes services of Belarusian troopersThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics, Society
- Politics, SocietyLong queues reported at Belarusian-Polish borderThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- SocietyResettled people allowed to visit graveyards in contaminated area without permitsThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- PoliticsŁukašenka reaffirms interest in cooperating with IraqThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Economy
- PoliticsActivists decry extremist designations to rights groups as crime against humanityThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- PoliticsŁatuška says Orbán government granted EU visas to Belarusian security officialsThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- PoliticsCichanoŭskaja asks Canada to back ICC probe into Łukašenka and his officialsThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- PoliticsOpposition politician urges Magyar to restore Hungary’s ICC membershipThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- SocietyLithuania intercepts two rafts with smuggled Belarusian cigarettesThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics
- PoliticsReprisals: two women convicted of extremismThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- EconomyProduction of animal feeds, supplements to be limited to authorized companiesThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- PoliticsCichanoŭskaja to address Canadian MPsThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- PoliticsPolitical activist Biełavus transferred to Mahiloŭ prisonThe material is available only to POZIRK+

