Russian Jewish leaders criticized a lawmakers motion to check how one of Russias chief rabbis received Russian citizenship. The development concerns Berel Lazar, chief Lubavitch emissary in the former Soviet Union and head of the Chabad-led Federation of Jewish Communities, the regions largest Jewish group. Last Friday, the Duma, Russias lower house of Parliament, authorized a committee to file an inquiry with the authorities to clarify why Lazar, an Italian-born U.S. citizen, was made a Russian citizen without undergoing required naturalization procedures.
The motion was proposed by Boris Vinogradov, a member of the nationalist Motherland Party.
On Monday, the party disassociated itself from the development by saying it never authorized Vinogradov to raise the issue in the Duma.
In a statement Monday, the Congress of Jewish Religious Organizations and Communities, often at odds with the federation, criticized what it called the anti-Semitic motivation behind the motion.
Poster Comment:
It's anti-semitic to require foreigners to undergo naturalization procedures.