April 9, 2013

(JTA) – One hundred Russian Jewish notables have urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ignore recent pleas by American Jews, who called on him to cede land for peace.

In an open letter from Russia published on Tuesday, the Russian Jews wrote that their message was a reaction to the April 3 letter initiated by the dovish Israel Policy Forum by 100 American Jews, including philanthropists Charles Bronfman, Danny Abraham, Lester Crown and Stanley Gold, and former U.S. Undersecretary of Defense Dov Zakheim. 

In the wake of U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to Israel last month, the American cosignatories asked Netanyahu to take steps to represent Israel’s “readiness to make painful territorial sacrifices for the sake of peace.” They decided to write the letter “as Americans deeply committed to Israel’s security,” they said.

“We, the Russian Jews, are committed to the secure and stable future of Israel not less than our American coreligionists,” the response letter from Moscow read. 

“It is therefore that we believe that the decisions of the Head of the Government of Israel on critical issues should be taken for the sake of people of Israel only, based exclusively on Israel’s assessment of the situation. Decisions on national security issues must not be made under external pressure, regardless of its origins: world public opinion, U.S. leaders or even influential American Jews,” the authors wrote.

Among the cosignatories of the Russian letter were the president of the Russian Jewish Congress Yuri Kanner and businessman Mikhail Fridman, who was among the organization’s founders. Other cosignatories included Pinchas Goldschmidt, a chief rabbi of Moscow and president of the Conference of European Rabbis.

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