Jews in Belarus feel 'relatively secure' despite political turmoil

Although six Jews have been arrested in Belarus due to the unrest, three of whom were beaten, Belarus Chief Rabbi says Jewish community faces same circumstances as rest of country

By JEREMY SHARON
People, including employees of Minsk Tractor Works, gather near the plant to protest against presidential election results and to demand re-election in Minsk, Belarus August 19, 2020 (photo credit: REUTERS/VASILY FEDOSENKO)
People, including employees of Minsk Tractor Works, gather near the plant to protest against presidential election results and to demand re-election in Minsk, Belarus August 19, 2020
(photo credit: REUTERS/VASILY FEDOSENKO)
Disappearances, arbitrary arrests, indefinite detentions and violent beatings have been happening frequently during the political crackdown in Belarus following its recent presidential election.
There has been wide-scale political repression by President Victor Lukashenko and his government since protests began earlier this month against what the regime’s opponents and independent agencies allege was a rigged election.
Lukashenko claimed more than 80% of the vote. But his main opponent, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, contested the results. She has fled the country.
Firsthand accounts given to numerous media outlets in Belarus and Western media, including The Jerusalem Post, have included accounts of unidentified security officials plucking civilians off the streets and spiriting them away to unknown locations without charges, without informing next of kin and without any legal representation.
More than 10,000 people have been arrested in such circumstances before and after the election, which took place on August 9, and some 90 are still missing, according to Belarus human-rights groups.
Among those have been several Jewish citizens, including some with dual Israeli nationality, including Artur Daisky and Artem Pronin.
Last week, Daisky told the Post how he was arbitrarily arrested the night before the election. Pronin told this reporter how he was held in a cell with 120 men and severely beaten before being released.
Speaking to the Post on Wednesday, Alexey Abramov, 39, a Russian citizen was in Belarus last week, said he is another young Jewish man who felt the force of the authoritarian, brutal regime clinging to power in Minsk.
On a visit to the western city of Grodno last week to see some friends, Abramov was grabbed off the streets by unidentified security personnel, a bag was placed over his head, and he was taken away to a detention facility in an unknown location. Neither family nor friends knew of his detention, which Abramov called a kidnapping, and no one knew what had become of him.
In the detention facility, he was told to sign a document confessing to organizing protests and political unrest and threatened with 15 years in prison. When he refused to sign, was punched, kicked and beaten on his legs, arms, back and head while handcuffed.
The Post now knows of six Jews, five men and one woman, who have been arbitrarily arrested in Belarus, including two who also have Israeli nationality.
But Jewish leaders in the country contacted by the Post believe there is no specific danger to Jews or the Jewish community at large.
They say Belarusian Jews are in the same situation as other citizens.
Jews in Belarus have similar political views as other Belarusian citizens, Belarus Chief Rabbi Mordechai Reichenstein told the Post.
“People aren’t acting as Jews over the political situation but merely as citizens,” he said. “There is no such thing as a Jewish approach. Jews in Belarus think like other Belarus citizens. There is no difference between Jewish and non-Jewish citizen in this regard.”
The Jewish community does not feel targeted or threatened by the government or any other political faction, and it has largely been unaffected by the political unrest, he added.
Antisemitism is not a concern of the Jewish community in Belarus, Reichenstein said.
“The majority of the community feels relatively secure. I don’t see a reason not to feel safe,” he said, adding that the main Minsk synagogue, close to the city center where protests have been staged, has been holding prayer services, Torah lessons and other activities throughout the crisis.
Normal life has been disrupted by the political turmoil, and like all Belarusians, those in the Jewish community are also exercising more caution in their daily activities, Reichenstein said.
People are “more careful” and “go out at night less,” he said. Fewer people than usual were attending synagogues, he added.
More people were making use of sleeping arrangements provided by the synagogue on Friday nights instead of returning home late at night by themselves, Reichenstein said.
Rabbi Grisha Abramovich of the Religious Union for Reform Judaism in Belarus said he and his community took precautionary measures, such as closing their synagogue last Friday night over fear that people walking to and from services might be subjected to arbitrary arrest.
A wedding was postponed because its timing coincided with a rally held by opponents of the regime, and since the synagogue is also close to the Minsk downtown area, it was not considered safe to hold it, Abramovich said.
“When 6,000 people have been arrested, you cannot just be calm about that,” he said.
Despite this, the rabbi said his synagogue would now be opening its doors once again this Friday night.
Nevertheless, despite the unrest, “it is not war on the streets,” and “life is continuing as normal, as far as is possible,” Abramovich said.
The greater problem facing the Jewish community, like the rest of the population, is strikes and economic difficulties as a result of the unrest, as well as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has not spared Belarus, he said.
None of this comes as particular comfort to Abramov.
He was shaken by his experience at the hands of security personnel, and the bruises all over his body are now shades of blue, green and violet.
Abramov was in an unknown prison cut off from outside contact.
He refused to confess to organizing protests despite the beating, but he signed a document admitting to being a foreigner and having a relatively large sum of money with him in Belarus as a kind of compromise with his captors.
A fellow inmate was released several days before Abramov and told friends about the situation. They informed the Russian Consulate in Grodno and Russian Embassy in Minsk but received no reply, Abramov said, adding that he was not contacted by Russian authorities.
Abramov did not despair, saying to do so would have been counterproductive and a waste of nervous energy.
“Yes, I was scared, but I didn’t panic,” he said. “I thought about the situation as extreme tourism. I pretended that it was an artificial situation and was some kind of adrenaline activity, a kind of quest.”
Abramov said he was disappointed by the lack of help provided by Russian authorities but “not surprised,” adding that he does not feel his civil rights are particularly protected in Russia either.
“I didn’t feel the country [Russia] seriously cared about me anyway, but I am still disappointed. I would have thought there would be some response,” Abramov said, and adding that he may consider moving to Israel.


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