The Jewish side of the family By Yossi Melman
It looks like an everyday scene in a cemetery. A man who is no longer young stands, mute and weeping, at his father's grave. This particular scene, however, was fraught with historic irony. The son is Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the deputy speaker of the Russian State Duma (the lower house of the Russian parliament) and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, the third largest in the country. Zhirinovsky, an anti-Semitic nationalist, who has expressed esteem for Hitler, proposed that Russia offer asylum to Yasser Arafat and supported Saddam Hussein, found his father's grave in the Holon cemetery, outside Tel Aviv. Zhirinovskys quest for his roots- in the past he had denied that he had Jewish origins- ended, of all places in the world, in Israel.
"For 60 years I have been looking for my father," he said on Sunday of this week, as we stood in Row 18, Bloc 27, Area 6 of the cemetery. It was midday and the sun was brutal. Zhirinovsky pulls a handkerchief from his pocket and wipes away the beads of perspiration on his forehead. He is wearing a cap, though this one is cream colored and not the black that has become his trademark. "Sixty years I looked for him all over the world- and now I have found him."
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"I am pro-Israel"
This is his second visit to Israel. He was first in the country in January 2003, in order to support the election campaign of an Israeli sister party, which was established by a group of unknown new immigrants, but the party did not obtain enough votes to enter the Knesset. He is boycotted by the Foreign Ministry (which also boycotts Le Pen, Romania's Corneliu Tudor and other anti-Semitic leaders), and the Israeli authorities pondered the possibility of refusing to issue him a visa. In the end it was decided that this would be counterproductive, as it would cause a diplomatic incident with Moscow. In Israel, Zhirinovsky received a royal welcome from the Russian Embassy; a special representative escorted him everywhere and a chauffeur-driven car, bearing diplomatic license plates, was placed at his disposal.
"Everyone who alleges that I am anti-Semitic is a liar," he tells Haaretz in an interview, in his room on the 11th floor of a Tel Aviv seaside hotel, between visits to the cemetery. "I have a high regard for the Jewish people, and in the past three years, in several Duma speeches, I praised the experience and intelligence of the Jews. I say only good and positive things about the Jews."
What do you say to the opinion that anti-Semitism is deeply rooted in the heart of the Russian people?
"It is true that there is a certain problem with anti-Semitism in Russia. But that is only a matter of 100, 120 years, because of the Bolshevik Revolution. Many ministers and aides of Lenin and Stalin were Jews. So it is no wonder that there are people in the nation who hate then, because they hate Communism."
But there was anti-Semitism in Russia under the tsar, too.
"Fine. So write that there was anti-Semitism in Russia for 200 years, not 120."
In recent years there have also been anti-Semitic statements, and you are among those who fanned the flames of anti-Semitism.
"I am not anti-Semitic. But it is true that in the government of Boris Yeltsin there were people like [prime minister Yegor] Gaidar, who introduced economic reforms and privatizations that hurt the people. Look at all the oligarchs - Gusinsky, Berezovsky, Gaydamak, Khodorkovsky, Nevzlin - they are all Jews. I have no connections with them. They are all Yeltsin's creations. They were poor people who suddenly became billionaires. How do you think they did that? They robbed and stole the money of the Russian people. And they must return the money to the people."
Are you a rich man?
"Certainly not. I live from the salary of a Knesset member [sic] in the opposition. If I were in the government, I might be rich," he replies, amid cascades of laughter. Perhaps he recalled that on a previous occasion he told a different interviewer that he is fond of Mercedes cars and owns a few.
You claim that you are not anti-Semitic, but that's how you are viewed in Israel.
"That is also not true. I am Pro-Israel."
Pro-Israel? But you portrayed yourself as a friend of Saddam Hussein.
"I am not his friend. He invited me to visit him. So I went. I did it for the sake of the Russian people. He owed us $9 billion and the only way to get the debt repaid was perhaps through a dialogue. I was also against the American aggression. I foresaw it all. History proved me right. Look at the chaos in Iraq. The Americans removed Saddam Hussein and brought in Al-Qaida. I am an orientalist and I know the Arab and Muslim people. Only Saddam Hussein could have maintained stability in Iraq. It is the same in Afghanistan. Who created the Taliban? The Americans. And you will see that the Taliban will come back into power in Afghanistan."
Are you also against an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities?
"Correct. That will create instability."
Can you understand Israel's concern about nuclear weapons in the hands of the ayatollahs' regime in Iran?
"Of course I understand. And maybe you should attack. But I do not advise that, because it is very dangerous. Iran is our neighbor, and an attack on Iran will cause the spread of instability and violence to us, too, in the Caucasus. A military operation in Iran will cause a situation there like the one in Iraq and in Afghanistan, and maybe even worse. I suggest a different solution: to create a strategic alliance between Israel, Russia and the United States. That is power no one will be able to stand up against. The problem is that the Americans, like Napoleon, are out to achieve world hegemony."
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"Now I know for certain that I'm one-quarter Jewish."
Won't that hinder your political career?
"I don't think so. I am Russian and I feel like a Russian."
Vladimir Zhirinovsky intervenes, "Why in the world should it hinder? What difference does it make whether you are Russian or Israeli or American or black or white?" he says in a conciliatory tone, as though he had never outrageously said the opposite. "What we need in Russia is someone with Jewish intelligence, a Russian heart, German precision, an American entrepreneurial spirit and Asian fanaticism - and do you know who has all that"? he asks rhetorically. "I do. I have Russian heart. Jewish intelligence. And because of the father I discovered here in Israel, Wolf, who has a German name, I can say that I also have German precision and a sense of entrepreneurship. After all, he was a rich man. Having been born in Kazakhstan, I also have Asian fanaticism."
And one more thing: "Inform the Jewish people that if I am elected president or if I am in the government, you in Israel will have no problems, not with Iran's nuclear program and not with the Hamas terrorists. I will know how to deal with them. After all, my father is buried here, in your soil."