Raisky stated that he was imprisoned for 3 days, during which time he was detained in three other institutions, in overcrowded conditions and, unlike Fruman, denied being treated otherwise by others detained for being Jewish.
According to Ilya Bezruchko, a representative of the National Coalition in Support of the Eurasian Jewish Community founded in Washington, Ukraine, Raisky and Kengerli, any of whom have since been released, were arrested as part of a pre-election raid on the government to remove those who most likely gave the impression of protesting on the streets.
– Franak Viaorka (@franakviacorka) August 13, 2020
“I don’t think they differentiate people, ” said Bezruchko.” For them, it doesn’t matter if we’re Belarusians or Jews.”
While Raisky said he supported the protests and several of his Jewish friends took to the streets, local municipal organizations tried to strain that regardless of what Americans could do, Jews in the country in general do not have a political position.
In a series of interviews, Belarusian Jewish leaders have strongly denied the rise of anti-Semitic elections and demonstrations.
“Our Jewish network is not a political organization, so we do nothing about the political situation,” Victoria Brumina, executive director of the Union of Jewish Public Associations and Communities of Belarus, one of the leading Jewish organizations, told the Times of Israel. from the country. “All I can say is that we have no data on allegations of anti-Semitism or anti-Semitism during these elections.”
“Community members are the target,” said Mark Levin, executive vice president of NCSEJ.
And although Lukashenko has made the network “outrageous” over the years, anti-Semitic incidents are rare, he said, referring to a 2007 in which the president accused local Jews of turning the city of “Bobruisk into a dump,” and a 2015 commentary on the failure of a Jewish official “to control all Jews in Belarus.”
Despite the government’s many shortcomings, Belarus has noticed little ethnic politics that is not unusual in other Central and Eastern European countries in recent years.
The 2014 Ukrainian revolution was characterized by a series of violent attacks opposed to members of the local Jewish network and the Russian-Ukrainian war that followed, both sides put together accusations of anti-Semitism as a component of their respective propaganda campaigns.
through @Belsat_TV pic.twitter.com/09obiTSPxk
– max seddon (@maxseddon) August 16, 2020
In the run-up to this year’s Polish presidential elections, the government-dominated state television channel warned that if opposition candidate Rafal Trzaskowski won, he would betray Polish interests by paying Holocaust restitution cash to satisfy Jewish demands. .
Meanwhile, Hungary’s authoritarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, has continually blamed his country’s unrest on The Jewish financier George Soros, causing strong complaints from the local community, and Lithuanian Jews have expressed fear for their protection because of their nationalist reaction to their opposition to government rehabilitation.Holocaust contributors.
According to Raisky Rabbi Grisha Abramovich, an associate of the Religious Union for Progressive Judaism, at least one other member of the network was arrested, prompting him to close his synagogue in central Minsk on Friday night to avoid that the faithful were trapped. .in the police network while passing through the demonstrations.
In statements to the Times of Israel, Abramovich expressed his ambivalence about the protests that highlighted the limitations that local devout leaders will have to operate under Lukashenko’s regime.
– Do you have freedom?- No!Pic.twitter.com/nFm0rO22UF
– Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) August 16, 2020
“In my non-public opinion as a rabbi, I recommend that other people don’t threaten their lives or violate the law, but on the other hand, I can’t tell them what to do or where to go or not to pass,” Array said.
He added that his network is apolitical, several of its members have volunteered to assist detainees and their families on a purely humanitarian basis, and he personally opposes the use of violence against protesters.
“I don’t need to politicize the synagogue. When I’m asked what I’m looking like, I don’t answer, and if you ask me if I’m content to help those beaten or taken to prison, my answer is yes, but it has nothing to do with politics, you have to take care of others,” Abramovich said, adding that their efforts were not an official network project.
“We ask others what assistance they need after their release, whether they want to fix food, water, clothing or maybe money for several days,” Abramovich said.
Medical student Eva Fradkina is one of the other young Jews who have done their best for those affected by violence.In statements to the Times of Israel from his hometown of Vitebsk, he described taking medical supplies to a local demonstration for the wounded..
“I tried to prevent the bleeding and tried to help the wounded, but the police tried to stop him from attending people,” he recalls.”I ran away because the police pulled out their arrears and told me to stop by the house and not intervene.”. I tried to tell the police I didn’t need to fight, I sought help but they didn’t perceive me and tried to threaten me.”
But despite the growing violence against all protesters, it turns out that there is little concern that violence could lead to an express target of the Jewish network itself.
“There is no anti-Semitism that I know of,” Sholom Malinkin, president of the Association of Jewish Communities of Belarus in Chabad, told the Times of Israel, noting that the protests in Belarus were fundamentally different from those of the Ukrainian president. six years ago.
“We’re afraid of the situation,” Malinkin said.
Contributed to this report.