Thanking the oppressor

11/12/2012 15:22 By ISAIAH GRUBER

In a departure from reality, Peres sidesteps centuries of anti-Semitism to thank Russia for its hospitality.

Photo by: Mark Neiman/GPO

Last week President Shimon Peres participated in the inauguration of a new Russian Jewish museum in Moscow. In a country infamous for its anti-Semitism, Peres chose to focus on the positives. While his desire to improve Israeli-Russian relations is commendable, the president went too far in sacrificing historical truth for political expediency.

Speaking in Hebrew "in the name of the Jewish people and the state of Israel," Peres remarked, "I came here to say in your ears, and in the ears of the Russian people — thank you. Thank you for a thousand years of hospitality. A thousand years of existence that Great Russia granted to my little people."

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Thanking the oppressor

In a departure from reality, Peres sidesteps centuries of anti-Semitism to thank Russia for its hospitality.

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