Just backing up my point. I have lots more material. (Thanks, Ralph!) This has been cut down considerably, since originally he sent me about 70K of materials from JTA and elsewhere.
Chris: Sorry for the delays . . . I publish a newsletter on Russian Security and Military Affairs, which covers the Chechen War, and with Maskhadov's PR stunt in Ingushetia, I was temproarily overwhelmed in work. Below are articles from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that covers the plight of Jews in Chechnya under Maskhadov's government. You will notice that an unofficial anti-Semitism became the law of the land, with Jews being persecuted relentlessly, some because of religion, some over apartments, etc. You will also notice that Novoye Gazeta's reporter Izmailov has indicated that it was the Chechen's and local wahhabists who were behind the hostage/slave trade, the same Izmailov who would later change his tune when his masters-to-be found it pertinent to play the Chechen trace in favor of slandering Russia. Money does talk . . . the first article actually deals with wahhabist harrassment/persecution of Jews in Dagestan. Reading these articles illustrate just how bad the area was before Russian forces crossed the Chechen border in October 1999. Best, Ralph Kidnappings illustrate danger for Jews in Russian Caucasus By Lev Gorodetsky MOSCOW, Oct. 5, 1999 (JTA) -- Yuri Izmailov, a well-known member of the Jewish community in the capital of Dagestan, was kidnapped last winter and held near the border with the breakaway republic of Chechnya. The reason: His captors wanted to receive ransom money from his relatives or sell him into slavery to Chechens. After six months of living in a basement, eating only bread and water and sleeping on a dirt floor, Izmailov, 45, knew he had to take action. He managed to dig an underground passageway and escape onto the street, walking away unsuspected only, he believes, because his six-month-old beard made people think he was one of the Wahabbites, a local radical Muslim group. But that wasn't the end of trouble for Izmailov or his family, which before his escape had managed to bargain the ransom price down to $50,000. A family celebration of his escape was interrupted by two armed men who burst into their house. The ensuing shooting left several dead and others, including Izmailov, badly wounded. Izmailov again managed to survive and shortly thereafter, the entire family left the city of Makhachkala, the Dagestani capital, with some going to Israel. Jewish kidnappings in the Caucasus have become more frequent in the past year -- some 15 to 20 Jews are currently being held in the Makhachkala region alone, according to Karen Gurshumov, a leader of the local Jewish community. As the kidnappings show, the situation of the Jews in the predominantly Muslim republics of Russia's northern Caucasus is rather precarious. They come at a time of growing instability and escalating conflict in the region. Chechen rebels have twice invaded neighboring Dagestan and are widely blamed for terrorist bombings that have killed hundreds in Moscow and southern Russia. Chechen leaders say their goal is to establish a fundamentalist Islamic state in the region. In recent weeks, Russia has bombed targets in Chechnya, prompting a stream of refugees from the region and fueling speculation that a new Russian war against Chechnya was imminent. The situation for Jews in the region contrasts sharply with the era prior to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, when the anti-Semitism familiar to Jews in most of Russia was virtually non-existent in this region. The situation began to deteriorate in 1989, when the rapid changes in Soviet society caused by Gorbachev's policies of perestroika led to a sharp surge of nationalism mixed with strong Islamic sentiments. Anti-Zionist and explicitly anti-Semitic slogans and speeches were heard at mass rallies in Makhachkala, Derbent and other towns in Dagestan. The increase of anti-Semitism spurred many local Jews to leave the area where their ancestors had lived for at least 12 centuries. Most left for Israel or resettled in Moscow and other cities in Russia. Fewer made their way to the United States. The anti-Semitic rhetoric has escalated in the past year. Shamil Basayev, a warlord from neighboring Chechnya who has been leading the recent attacks by Islamic rebels in Dagestan, has employed anti-Zionist rhetoric to explain his goals. ``I'm going to fight against Zionism and purge Dagestan, driving out the Yeltsin regime, faithful servant of world Zionism,'' he was quoted as saying at a mass rally in Chechnya a few weeks ago. Aslan Maskhadov, president of the self-proclaimed Chechen republic, has made similar comments. The latest reports from Dagestani Jewish centers say that a new outburst of war -- an invasion of Dagestan territory by Chechen fighters and Islamic fundamentalists, followed by a massive operation of Russian federal troops inside Chechnya -- could be drawing near. Jewish activists there say that many of the 12,000 remaining Jews are preparing to pull out of Dagestan, heading for Israel or for relatives in Moscow, and that houses and apartments are being sold for a nominal price or are simply abandoned. Meanwhile, the area in which the kidnappings are taking place is widening. Two main factors explain the phenomenon. First, as a result of the growing instability and weakening of the Russian state, the traditional clan system has resurfaced in the Caucasus region. Since the Mountain Jews, as they are known, are fewer in number than before, they have become easy prey for extortion and kidnapping in what has become a popular profession in this poorest part of Russia. Second, there exists a deeply rooted belief that the worldwide Jewish community, and, above all the State of Israel, would never forsake their fellow Jews and would rush to help pay any ransom that the kidnappers demand. These cases are usually not reported by mass media, with the only scant information emanating from local Jewish sources. Here are some of this year's cases: * Volodya Fayil, 14, who lived with his mother after his father left for Israel, was kidnapped in Makhachkala in May; * Anatoly Babayev, 32, kidnapped in Buynaksk; * Naftali Muzhov, 67, also from Buynaksk; * Albert Yunayev, 33, kidnapped in Khasav-Yurt. The kidnappers are believed to be particularly on the lookout for Israelis visiting the region. In July, Laura Likhtman, 18, came from Israel to spend a month with her grandmother and her sister, currently living in Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkariya, another autonomous republic inside Russia near Chechnya. In Nalchik, Laura saw a girl, one of her former schoolmates. The girl called Laura to tell her that her boyfriend would pick her up in his car. The young man, an ethnic Chechen, indeed picked up Laura -- and then disappeared with her. Laura's relatives later received a call demanding a ransom of $1 million for her return. The ransom has since been reduced to $100,000. During his visit to Moscow in early August, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak raised the issue of the kidnappings in his talks with Sergei Stepashin, his then-Russian counterpart. Laura's whereabouts are still not known, and a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Moscow declined to speak about the issue. ********* Chechen gangs kill hostages, release one Israeli teen-ager By Lev Gorodetsky MOSCOW, Dec. 27, 1999 (JTA) -- As Russian troops assault the Chechen capital of Grozny, the fate of several hundred hostages, including some Jews, being held by Chechen gangs is becoming increasingly grim. Retired Maj. Vyacheslav Izmailov, who has managed to arrange the release of dozens of hostages, puts it very simply, "They are going to kill the hostages. It is going on already." It is believed that the gangs, part of a rebel movement desperately fighting against Russian troops for control of Chechnya, are starting to kill their captives because they no longer believe that they will receive the ransoms they once expected. Lev Melikhov, a 52-years-old Jew from the city of Nalchik, has evidently been killed by his captors, even though the Chechens are still telling his family he is alive in order to get a ransom, said Izmailov. Izmailov is concerned about the fate of Oleg Yemelyantsev, an Israeli citizen who has been held hostage for more than 20 months. Recently Yemelyantsev's relatives received video footage of his finger being chopped off. "They are transferring him all the time from one place to another," said Izmailov. "I can't locate his whereabouts now." But the squads working to free hostages have managed during the last weeks to free several dozen hostages, including some foreigners and some children Laura Lichtman, 18, an Israeli citizen who was kidnapped in July in the city of Nalchik, was released and expected to return home this week. Lichtman was abducted during a visit to her grandmother, who lives on the border between Russia and Georgia. She had been held in the Chechen capital of Grozny, but after Russian troops started massive air raids of the city, her captors took her out of the city, and she spent the last part of her captivity in a mountain village of Chechnya. Another teen-ager, Alla Geifman, 13, was freed earlier this month in the south of Chechnya. Geifman, the daughter of banker Grigory Geifman, one of the wealthiest businessmen and an active member of the Jewish community in the city of Saratov in southern Russia, was abducted in May near her house by a gang that specializes in kidnappings of children from upper-class families. The kidnappers demanded a ransom of $5 million. Grigory Geifman collected a part of the sum and sent a man with the money. The man was killed and the money disappeared. When he failed to produce the next payment, the mobsters cut off two of the girl's fingers and sent them to her father with video footage of the act. This gang, which is made up both of Chechens and individuals from southern Russia, is still holding several other children. Jews in Saratov who are selling their apartments before they leave for Israel are particular targets. Mikhail Zeigman, 71, a retired soldier, was murdered earlier this month in his apartment. Zeigman, who was planning to leave for Israel in several days, had sold his apartment for $10,000. He was found with his head crushed with a sharp instrument, and the money was stolen. This was the second such case of murder in a short period, and the local staff of the Jewish Agency for Israel has even started to work with potential emigres to teach them a system of "security precautions." Russia's Mountain Jews eager to leave Chechnya By Lev Gorodetsky MOSCOW, Feb. 29, 2000 (JTA) -- As Russian troops inexorably push Chechen separatist rebels deeper toward the border with the former Soviet republic of Georgia, Western protests are mounting against the Russian army's crimes against civilians. But Jews in the Caucasus region appear to be overwhelmingly supportive of Russia's military solution. "I think, and many of our people here think, that the military operation has to be accomplished. Only then are we going to have a stable situation in the region," said Svetlana Danilova, a Jewish community leader in the city of Nalchik. Boris Shubayev, who works for the Jewish Agency for Israel in Nalchik, said his mother and sister gave home-made pirogen, or Russian-style dumplings, to Russian soldiers passing through town on their way to the front. "We want them to finish the Chechen rebels. There is no other way out." "We are not against the Chechen people," he added apologetically. "My family lived in Chechnya and had always been friendly with the Chechens. When Stalin deported the Chechens in 1944, many of them left their houses to their Jewish neighbors and knew that not a single cushion on the bed would be touched. Now everything has changed." Shubayev and other Mountain Jews here say the Chechen war and the atrocities committed by the Chechens and other "ethnic gangs," including the kidnapping of Jews, has destroyed the tenuous multicultural balance that has served as the underlying fabric of life in this region. The first Mountain Jews, who currently constitute more than 50 percent of the roughly 25,000 Jews of the North Caucasus, came from Persia to the North Caucasus not later than the eighth century. They spoke a sort of "Persian Yiddish," a Farsi dialect with a heavy mixture of Hebrew. Living for many centuries as an enclave surrounded by Muslims and Christians, this oldest Jewish community in Russia managed to maintain its identity and keep stable relations with its neighbors. Today many are concentrated in the cities of Derbent, Makhachkala and Buynaksk in the Republic of Dagestan, where the Jewish population has diminished from 50,000 to fewer then 10,000 during the past 10 years. Most of the Jews who have left, many of whom fled before the first Russian-Chechen war in 1996, have emigrated to Israel or America, or moved to Moscow. Despite their drastically diminished numbers, the Mountain Jews in Dagestan and elsewhere in the North Caucasus maintained their communities and until recently many of them intended to stay on. But the increased interethnic tension and the number of kidnappings and acts of violence which have rapidly spread to the neighboring republics and even to Moscow have convinced many of the remaining Jews to leave. Roman Ashurov, 61, had intended to remain in Nalchik, even though his children had already moved to Israel. Then he was kidnapped by Chechen gangs who believed that the international Jewish community and Israel would be willing to pay dearly for Jewish captives. Recently released after having spent a year in captivity, he is physically and emotionally fragile and reluctant to speak, but his relatives told JTA that female members of the gang had mutilated his genitalia. Ashurov, who urgently needs an operation, is planning to move to Israel soon. Fewer than 50 Jews are being held hostage, but as knowledge about each case spreads, more Jews are tempted to leave. The war is also creating a refugee problem and Jewish organizations in Russia and the West have recently launched a fund-raising campaign to aid both Jewish and non-Jewish refugees fleeing Russian troops. Martin Horowitz, director of the Jewish Community Development Fund in Russia and Ukraine, said 400 Jewish refugees have been identified by the Russian Jewish Congress. But data from Jewish sources in the North Caucasus cities shows that the actual number of Jewish refugees Jews who fled the current fighting or persecution in Chechnya is probably fewer than 100. But there are likely thousands of non-refugee Jews who want to leave. Karen Gurshumov, one of the leaders of the Dagestani Jewish community, is disappointed with the aid programs, with the exception of the Chesed social service programs run by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Gurshumov and other Jewish activists say the real problem is the deplorable situation of thousands of "non-refugee" Jewish families, who can't sell their apartments or houses and don't want to leave without any money at all. The economy of the region is poor, and many people are unemployed. Yeshsya Abramov, a Moscow-based RJC leader who is in charge of helping Caucasian Jews who want to resettle elsewhere, says he is negotiating with municipal authorities to acquire an apartment for 300 families near Moscow . Some 30 percent of the apartments, he says, will be given to non-Jewish refugee families. But Abramov says he expects an evacuation of the most of the Jews from the North Caucasus. "Seventy percent of Jews.," says Abramov, would "leave immediately if they had the opportunity to sell their homes." ********* Russia's Mountain Jews support war in Chechnya, but are eager to get out By Lev Gorodetsky MOSCOW, March 1, 2000 (JTA) -- As Russian troops inexorably push Chechen separatist rebels deeper toward the border with the former Soviet republic of Georgia, Western protests are mounting against the Russian army's crimes against civilians. But Jews in the Caucasus region appear to be overwhelmingly supportive of Russia's military solution. "I think, and many of our people here think, that the military operation has to be accomplished. Only then are we going to have a stable situation in the region," said Svetlana Danilova, a Jewish community leader in the city of Nalchik, which is located in a republic bordering Chechnya. Boris Shubayev, who works for the Jewish Agency for Israel in Nalchik, said his mother and sister gave home-made pirogen, or Russian-style dumplings, to Russian soldiers passing through town on their way to the front. "We want them to finish the Chechen rebels. There is no other way out." "We are not against the Chechen people," he added apologetically. "My family lived in Chechnya and had always been friendly with the Chechens. When Stalin deported the Chechens in 1944, many of them left their houses to their Jewish neighbors and knew that not a single cushion on the bed would be touched. Now everything has changed." Shubayev and other Mountain Jews here say the Chechen war and the atrocities committed by the Chechens and other "ethnic gangs," including the kidnapping of Jews, has destroyed the tenuous multicultural balance that has served as the underlying fabric of life in this region. The first Mountain Jews, who currently constitute more than 50 percent of the roughly 25,000 Jews of the North Caucasus, came from Persia to the North Caucasus not later than the eighth century. They spoke a sort of "Persian Yiddish," a Farsi dialect with a heavy mixture of Hebrew. Living for many centuries as an enclave surrounded by Muslims and Christians, this oldest Jewish community in Russia managed to maintain its identity and keep stable relations with its neighbors. Today many are concentrated in the cities of Derbent, Makhachkala and Buynaksk in the Republic of Dagestan, where the Jewish population has diminished from 50,000 to fewer then 10,000 during the past 10 years. Most of the Jews who have left, many of whom fled before the first Russian-Chechen war in 1996, have emigrated to Israel or America, or moved to Moscow. Despite their drastically diminished numbers, the Mountain Jews in Dagestan and elsewhere in the North Caucasus maintained their communities and until recently many of them intended to stay on. But the increased interethnic tension and the number of kidnappings and acts of violence which have rapidly spread to the neighboring republics and even to Moscow have convinced many of the remaining Jews to leave. Roman Ashurov, of Nalchik, was already considering a move to Israel. Then Ashurov, whose children had already moved to Israel, was kidnapped by Chechen gangs who believed that the international Jewish community and Israel would be willing to pay dearly for Jewish captives. Released a month ago after having spent a year in captivity, Ashurov, 61, is physically and emotionally fragile and reluctant to speak, but his relatives told JTA that female members of the gang had mutilated his genitalia. Ashurov, who urgently needs an operation, arrived in Israel on Wednesday and is planning to stay. Chechen gangs released another Jewish hostage this week after a ransom was paid by a Moscow-based Chechen businessman, according to Russia's security services. Yefim Kazarets, 51, who had been held in Chechnya for eight months, was reported in relatively good condition. Fewer than 50 Jews are being held hostage, but as knowledge about each case spreads, more Jews are tempted to leave. The war is also creating a refugee problem and Jewish organizations in Russia and the West have recently launched a fund-raising campaign to aid both Jewish and non-Jewish refugees fleeing Russian troops. Martin Horowitz, director of the Jewish Community Development Fund in Russia and Ukraine, said 400 Jewish refugees have been identified by the Russian Jewish Congress. But data from Jewish sources in the North Caucasus cities shows that the actual number of Jewish refugees Jews who fled the current fighting or persecution in Chechnya is probably fewer than 100. But there are likely thousands of non-refugee Jews who want to leave. Karen Gurshumov, one of the leaders of the Dagestani Jewish community, is disappointed with the aid programs, with the exception of the Chesed social service programs run by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Gurshumov and other Jewish activists say the real problem is the deplorable situation of thousands of "non-refugee" Jewish families, who can't sell their apartments or houses and don't want to leave without any money at all. The economy of the region is poor, and many people are unemployed. Yeshsya Abramov, a Moscow-based RJC leader who is in charge of helping Caucasian Jews who want to resettle elsewhere, says he is negotiating with municipal authorities to acquire an apartment for 300 families near Moscow . Some 30 percent of the apartments, he says, will be given to non-Jewish refugee families. But Abramov says he expects an evacuation of the most of the Jews from the North Caucasus. "Seventy percent of Jews.," says Abramov, would "leave immediately if they had the opportunity to sell their homes."
