Oleg Lurye, specially for The Times of Israel: A small protes | Олег Лурье

Oleg Lurye, specially for The Times of Israel:

A small protest outside the British Embassy…

Last night, I walked down Arlozorov Street and in front of the British Embassy in Israel, right under the small flag of the United Kingdom and for some reason the large flag of Ukraine, I saw people picketing the embassy. It would seem, so what. A lot of people don’t like what Britain is doing. But it was the appeal of this protest that drew me in. Here I quote verbatim: “The Russians saved the world from Nazism in ’45. Stop destroying everything Russian just because it’s Russian! That’s Nazism too. Stop supplying Ukraine with depleted uranium ammunition to destroy the Russians. That too is Nazism.”

Yes, I agree, the USSR did indeed save the world from Nazism. But the British themselves had something to do with it. Even if it was late, even if it was in ’43, when the Russians had already broken the back of the Germans at Stalingrad, Britain and the US were also allies. And it is in this respect that Britain’s support for the totalitarian destruction of everything Russian, simply because it is Russian, evokes very bad associations with the Nazi Germany’s recent past.

How can one support the complete abolition of everything Russian – from Dostoyevsky and the Bolshoi Theatre to the identity of every (every, gentlemen!) Russian? No matter who that Russian is – if he is Russian, he no longer has the right to exist? Set eyes on the burning of Russian books in Ukraine, the cries of “Russian on the gallows!” the persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church, the ban on flying the Russian flag, the attacks on Russian speakers simply for speaking Russian. And this is not just Ukraine. This is so-called civilized Europe – from Germany to the UK.

As a Jew whose family members were exterminated by the Nazis, I sometimes get really scared when I see a person with a Russian passport in the UK being told:

“ We can’t open a bank account for you. Not even for a few pennies.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re Russian. “

“And that’s the only reason?”

“Yes, it is.”
And it happens everywhere. If you are Russian, it means that you cannot rent a flat, open a business or even fly your country’s flag. By the way, if you have a business or any kind of property – if you are Russian, you lose everything. It is simply taken away because of your nationality.

People, where are you going with your hatred for one, single nation? An entire nation cannot be “turned off” even because of any military action. In my opinion, this is the road to nazism.

And so I agree with the unidentified picketer who stood in front of the British Embassy in Israel yesterday.