Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara on Wednesday evening met with Russian Jewish community leaders in Moscow.
Among those attending the event were Russian Jewish Congress Chairman Yuri Kanner, Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia and Director of the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center Alexander Boroda and Moscow Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt.
Prime Minister Netanyahu said at the start of the meeting, "As part of my visit here today, we are very happy to meet with you. I am very happy and proud that I have been able to lead the State of Israel and – of course – to represent many among the people of Israel vis-à-vis a new network of relations such as this. The Russian-speaking public, over 1 million people, has changed the country and, together with the Jewish community here in Russia and Moscow, constitutes a living bridge between these two peoples.”
“It is no small thing that the State of Israel has such good ties with one of the strongest powers in the world. But we are not concerned just for ourselves. We are concerned for Jews everywhere. We know, of course, that we need to struggle together against displays of anti-Semitism. Yesterday I spoke with the Chief Rabbi of Buenos Aires. We see what is happening in parts of Europe and in North America as well. There is one answer to anti-Semitism – first of all, a strong State of Israel," he added.
Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt in his address at the meeting underlined that good relations between Russia and Israel are very important.