Vitriolic protest erupts against Israel at Russian conference
During youth conference in resort city of Sochi, Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese participants burn Israeli flag, chant 'death to Israel, death to Jews' while refusing to speak to Israeli delegation; 'When the Arabs saw the Israelis, they simply left the room. They said it was a war crime to sit with Israelis.'
The Israeli delegation to the 19th World Festival of Youth and Students at the resort city of Sochi is made up of two groups.
One group, whose composition was coordinated with the Russian Embassy in Israel, is made up of representatives of the entire political spectrum in Israel, including representatives from the Likud, the Zionist Union and Yesh Atid. A second group is made up of both Arab and Jewish members of a Communist youth group.
The organizers of the conference opposed the participation of the first group and as such asked them not to attend. The organizers also barred the Israeli delegation from flying the country's flag at the conference's opening ceremony, something which the Russian Foreign Ministry protested, albeit unsuccessfully.
Noa Ginosar, the political advisor at the Israeli embassy in Moscow, said there were several anti-Israeli incidents during the conference.
According to Ginosar, in the skirmishes in which Palestinian representatives participated, representatives from Lebanon and Syria also did, along with Arabs from Israel. She added that several demonstrations staged by the Arab groups were accompanied by the chants of “Death to Israel” and “Death to Jews.”
Some of those participating were questioned by the Russian Federal Security Services. One Lebanese citizen was punished for burning an Israeli flag. The organizers opposed to the anti-Israel invective announced that they could not continue to mediate between delegations and that from now on every provocative act would result in immediate removal of the offending participants.
Ginosar also said attempts to initiate a dialogue between the heads of the delegations and the Russian Foreign Ministry were simply struck down.
“When they (the Arabs) entered the room and saw the Israeli delegates, the immediately left the room saying they were not prepared to sit with us at all. The explanation they gave to the Russian representatives was that it is considered a war crime in their country to sit with Israeli reps,” Ginosar said.
Emanuel Nachson, a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry said he regretted the acts of what he described as hatred and irged the Russian authorities to put a stop to it.
“The Israeli ambassador in Russia Gary Koren spoke with the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Bogdanov a week before the beginning of the conference and expressed our expectations that Russia and the host country will act to guarantee the security of the Israeli delegation and to prevent provocations by anti-Israel sides,” Nachshon said.
Israel was satisfied, he continued, "with the Russian measures against the anti-Israel rioters which included determined steps such as the denial of accreditation.
"The Foreign Ministry takes seriously the attempts to damage the Israeli flag and expects the Russian side to continue to act with determination in order to oust hatred of any kind of provocation and violence against the Israeli delegation at the conference, which is expected to finish on October 22," he added. "The Foreign Ministry calls on the Israeli delegation not to be dragged into the provocation and to obey the directives of the Russian organizers.”
