Alexander Lukashenko, the 67-year-old strongman of Belarus, has been in the news quite a bit lately. First was the forced diversion of an airliner in Belarusian airspace on a false pretext. After the plane landed in Minsk, the country’s capital, two of the passengers — a outspoken opponent of the regime and his wife — were arrested. Next, Lukashenko cynically used refugees on the Belarus/Poland border: He threatened to unleash a flood of illegals entering the EU. Now, like autocrats from time immemorial, Lukashenko has turned to antisemitism as a political tool.
Quote: “The Jews succeeded in causing the entire world to kneel to them and no one will dare raise a voice and deny the Holocaust.” — Alexander Lukashenko | “This is antisemitism without the Jews,” Friedman said. “Jews that live in Belarus are so few and so invisible, they are not a factor. But such preoccupation [on behalf of the government] could negatively impact the few Jews that do live in the country. The regime has begun to play around with antisemitism when the goal is clearly not the Jews of Belarus. In any case, the demon of antisemitism has been released.”
Sources: Wikipedia (introduciton), The Times of Israel (quotation), IsraelHayom (quotation)
Learn more about Alexander Lukashenko from Wikipedia. ►
Read “As Lukashenko Ramps Up Antisemitism, Will Putin Save the Last Jews of Belarus?” ►
Read “Belarus leader: Jews caused the world ‘to kneel’ before them” ►
Read “Harsh reality of state antisemitism rears its head in Belarus” ►
Photo: Business Insider
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