Russian-speaking Jews launch group in Iran fight

JTA

An international Jewish organization of Russian-speaking Jews was launched to influence governments to join the fight against Iran.

The World Forum of Russian Jewry was inaugurated Wednesday at the United Nations during a ceremony commemorating International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 70th anniversary of the Babi Yar massacres with the participation of nearly 600 American Russian-speaking Jews and Holocaust survivors.

Alexander Levin, president of the Greater Kiev Jewish Community, will head the organization.

“Our goal is to bring together Russian-speaking Jews from around the world in order to save ourselves and other people from the next catastrophe and genocide, to preserve the world peace, and protect our national land at the State of Israel,” Levin said.

“I would like to remind you that there is today a member country of the United Nations that is currently on the road to obtaining a nuclear weapon whose president, without

blinking an eye, tells the humanity that the Holocaust is a deception and that it never occurred. We, the Russian-speaking Jews from the far-flung corner of the Earth, stand ready to unite against him and the nuclear program of Iran. We will not let another Holocaust engulf us.”

Levin has brought several Levin has co-opted several established Russian-speaking organizations, including the American Forum of Russian Jewry, under the umbrella of his new organization, according to the Forward. There are forums in Canada, Israel, Europe and Australia, and plans for 18 new offices this year in Russian-speaking communities worldwide.