Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has ordered Israel’s ambassador to Belarus to return to Israel due to recent anti-Semitic statements made by President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko.  Lukashenko said that problems in the city of Bobruisk were caused by the Jewish population, saying, “Jews don’t worry about the places they live in.  Look at Israel, I was there and I saw for myself.”  He called on the “rich Jews” to return to the city.

Livni expressed anger at Lukashenko’s statements, saying “The leadership’s role is to fight anti-Semitism... not to encourage it.”  Livni has also asked Belarus’s ambassador to Israel to come to a meeting on Friday.  Livni reportedly intends to pass along an official condemnation of Lukashenko’s statements.