The Federation of Jewish Communities, angered over the way the Russian TV station presented the history of the baby Gabriel, who was allegedly tortured to death by the Jews, and then canonized by the Orthodox Church as a saint – publishes its protest.
Mrs. Anastasia Gudrin, the spokeswoman of the Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar, said, ”The Jewish community in Russia expresses dismay that, in our times, in a serious and popular media such as “Russia 24″, such a false accusation against Jews can be repeated without any clear context or criticism. This is a medieval blood libel that in the past was the cause of many massacres of the Jewish population and has been repeatedly refuted, even by representatives of the Church.”
Gudrin continued to say that the Federation of Jewish Communities had sent a letter to the chairman of the RTR Oleg Dobrodeyev, asking him to explain the appearance of this material and its anti-semitic connotations on their website. “In addition,” she said, “we sent a letter to Patriarch Kirill requesting him to explain to the public the true attitude of the Russian Orthodox Church to such blood libels against the Jews.”