Oligarch to stay in Israel

Israel has reacted dismissively to Russia's proposal to have Leonid Nevzlin extradited to face charges that he has ordered murders in Russia, including that of a Siberian mayor.

The foreign and justice ministries declined to comment officially on the prosecutor's statement. However, not for attribution, Israeli officials noted that the accusation against Nevzlin comes just a week after Russia's prosecution closed an investigation into alleged racism in the Kitzur Shulhan Arukh, a classic compilation of Jewish law.

"The prosecution's behavior strengthens the impression that the Russians are deliberately playing the anti-Semitism card against Russian Jews to pressure Israel into extraditing Jews from here," said one.

The juxtaposition of the two events, he added, "merely casts anti-Semitism in Russia in an even more repulsive light in Israel's eyes." [Ha'aretz]

Now I'm profoundly suspicious of the Russian oligarchs but I am suspicious of the Russian prosecution in these cases. It's true that Judaism itself has been on trial in Russian public life so for some people, it is hard to tell where anti-semitism ends and legitimate prosecutions begin.