Lukashenka sent Yakubovich instead of apologies

Debates around Lukashenka’s words about Babruisk and the way Jews treat places where they live have remained acute for more than three weeks. Israel’s Ambassador to Belarus Zeev Ben Arye went to Tel Aviv for one week - for vacations, the Israeli side pledges - and came back to Minsk. Editor-in-chief of “Sovetskaya Belorussia” Paval Yakubovich has been in Israel for almost one week; he went there to smooth the relations between Belarus and Israel.

As “Haaretz” newspaper reports, the Israeli side considers the conflict induced by Aliaksandar Lukashenka’s statement settled, as deputy head of Central Europe and Eurasia Department of Israel’s Foreign Ministry Pini Avivi remarked after his meeting with Paval Yakubovich. Mr Yakubovich said during his visit to the Israeli Foreign Ministry that Aliaksandar Lukashenka’s words about the Jewish people are to be treated as a “joke” which doesn’t “reflect the actual position towards the Jews,” “Haaretz” reports.

Representative of the Center for Russian and Eastern European research of the University of Tel Aviv, Doctor of history Boris Morozov commented to Radio Svaboda on Lukashenka’s statement and Paval Yakubovich’s envoy mission:

“As a matter of fact, the statement as a demonstration of ordinary anti-Semitism is very harsh and offensive. However, it cannot be ignored. Mr. Yakubovich’s position is also rather complicated. He cannot deny the statement; nor does he convey president’s message. Even if he does, this message is extremely tiny and elusive. In general, the media don’t take much interest in his visit.”

Paval Yakubovich met with Russian-speaking community, took part in “hot lines” of Russian-speaking media (news agency “Kursor” in particular); he was invited to express Belarus’ position on the Russian-speaking 9th channel of the Israeli television.

Representative of the Center for Russian and Eastern European research of the University of Tel Aviv Boris Morozov believes that it was the Belarusian Embassy to Israel that settled the conflict and announced the country’s position; Mr.Yakubovich in his turn worked closely with the Embassy:

“I don’t think it was Yakubovich who announced the position. The whole thing was about diplomatic notes exchange, and I believe that the Belarusian Ambassador has given a corresponding reply. As the Israeli Ambassador has come back to Minsk, I suppose the Belarusian part has apologized. Although the apologies were not direct (Lukashenka is known never to apologize); the Belarusian part claimed the statement misinterpreted. Apparently, that was enough for Israel, since the Ambassador returned. But nobody in Israel reports anything about that.”