Moscow declares former chief rabbi a ‘foreign agent’

(A7) The Interfax news agency on Friday reported that Moscow’s Justice Ministry has declared Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt to be a “foreign agent.

In a statement, the Ministry claimed that Rabbi Goldschmidt spread “false information about the decisions made by public authorities of the Russian Federation and their policies,” and expressed opposition to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Rabbi Goldschmidt, 59, was born and raised in Switzerland. He has served in the position of the President of the Conference of European Rabbis since 2011. He left Russia last year, and is currently living in Israel. Previously, he served as the rabbi of Moscow.

Earlier this year, Rabbi Goldschmidt told The Guardian that the “anger and discontent of the masses” over societal hardships in Russia caused by the Ukraine war will be blamed on the Jewish community.

“When we look back over Russian history, whenever the political system was in danger you saw the government trying to redirect the anger and discontent of the masses towards the Jewish community,” he said. “We saw this in tsarist times and at the end of the Stalinist regime.”

He added, “We’re seeing rising antisemitism while Russia is going back to a new kind of Soviet Union, and step by step the iron curtain is coming down again. This is why I believe the best option for Russian Jews is to leave.”