Former Soviet Union

Former Prisoners of Zion, aliyah activists, discuss plans for new Soviet Jewry heritage center

Heritage Ministry Director-General Itay Grank presented the ministry’s vision for the center, which would introduce younger generations to the history of Soviet Jewry.

|ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF
Alex Silnitsky addresses a gathering of former Prisoners of Zion and aliyah activists at the Heritage Ministry in Jerusalem on October 5.
Israel’s election campaign is gathering pace, with the country’s political parties competing over the questions of security, leadership and the direction Israel takes after three years of war.

Israel picks between 'secular democracy or theocracy' in election, chess master Garry Kasparov says

"Just as Abraham Lincoln observed that the government could not persist 'half slave and half free,' Israel cannot go on half theocratic and half secular," Kasparov, whose father was Jewish, said.

|ByESTHER DAVIS
FROM LEFT: Vojtech Vodochodský, Stanislav Majer, and Tatiana Pauhofová in ‘Waves.’

‘Waves’ captures thrill and tragedy of resistance at Prague radio station in ’68 - review

Much of Waves is about the exhilaration of resisting, and how exciting it can be to give people the knowledge they need, which is being kept from them, to make their own decisions.

|ByHANNAH BROWN
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy takes part in a commemoration ceremony for the victims of Babyn Yar (Babiy Yar), one of the biggest single massacres of Jews during the Nazi Holocaust, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv Ukraine September 29, 2022.

85 years later: Babyn Yar and the fight against deliberate erasure - opinion

On September 29 and 30, 1941, German forces, aided by local collaborators, murdered 33,771 Jews at Babyn Yar. In just two days, the lives of children, parents, and grandparents were cut short.

|ByREVITAL YAKIN KRAKOVSKY

Reflecting on Kazakhstan's painful legacy: A call for global nuclear disarmament - opinion

As the International Day Against Nuclear Tests is observed, Kazakhstan's tragic history with nuclear weapons serves as a powerful reminder of the need for global disarmament.

SEPTEMBER 1, 2024ByKARIPBEK KUYUKOV
The Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft carrying the crew formed of NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub blasts off to the International Space Station (ISS) from the launchpad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan September 15, 2023.

Josh Shapiro rescued me from Soviet antisemitism, can continue fighting for Jews - opinion

Young Shapiro helped a Jewish family escape communist Russia and continues to this day to fight for antisemitism.

AUGUST 14, 2024ByAVRAHAM GOLDSTEIN
PENNSYLVANIA GOV. Josh Shapiro takes the stage at an election rally for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, in Philadelphia, last week. Shapiro can show that he isn’t backing down from his lifelong mission of helping Jews and others in need, says the writer.

Russia sentences Jewish writer Masha Gessen to prison in absentia for comments on Ukraine war

Russia has also jailed Evan Gershkovich, a Jewish American reporter for the Wall Street Journal, on charges of espionage, setting off international outrage over Putin’s treatment of the press.

JULY 16, 2024ByANDREW LAPIN/JTA
Masha Gessen speaks onstage at the 2022 CPJ International Press Freedom Awards at Glasshouses on November 17, 2022 in New York City.

Marvel removes Jewish superhero Sabra's Israeli identity for new Captain America movie

The Israeli background of Marvel superhero Sabra has been removed for the upcoming 'Captain America: Brave New World' movie, with the character now depicted as a former Soviet Black Widow.

JULY 16, 2024ByMICHAEL STARR
Marvel Jewish superhero Sabra.

New immigrants to Israel find solace, strength in community during wartime

As the war rages on, the efforts of Shishi Shabbat Yisraeli demonstrate the power of community in helping new immigrants find their place and purpose in Israel.

JUNE 29, 2024ByELI MANDELBAUM
Spirited Russian-speaking immigrants learn about Israel’s path to independence on a hike in the Jerusalem Hills.

Chess champion and vocal opponent of Putin's Russia talks to 'Post'

Kasparov visited Israel earlier this month to receive an honorary degree from the Weizmann Institute of Science and talked about his forceful opinions about his native Russia led by Vladimir Putin.

JUNE 1, 2024ByORI LEWIS
OPPOSITION LEADERS Garry Kasparov (left), Alexei Navalny (center) who died in a Russian penal colony earlier this year, and Sergei Udaltsov (right) hold a banner during an opposition protest in St. Petersburg in 2012.

Ebrahim Raisi signaled Iranian revolution's demise

The deceased Iranian president epitomized the Khomeini Revolution’s successes, adventures, and decay.

MAY 24, 2024ByAMOTZ ASA-EL
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi gestures during a meeting with Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro at the Miraflores Palace, in Caracas, Venezuela June 12, 2023.

Russian plane has 'flown it's last': Ukraine downs surveillance craft - commander

The A-50 first came into use during the soviet era.

FEBRUARY 23, 2024ByREUTERS
A Russian A-50 aircraft.

Protest in Georgian capital amid anger over 'desecration' of Stalin icon

A side panel of the icon includes a depiction of the Georgian-born Stalin - an avowed atheist who violently repressed religion across the Soviet Union - being blessed by St Matrona of Moscow.

JANUARY 13, 2024ByREUTERS
A view shows an icon, an element of which depicts Soviet leader Joseph Stalin being blessed by Russian Orthodox saint Matrona of Moscow, and that was recently defaced with paint in an act of protest amid controversy over the icon’s apparent honouring of Stalin in Tbilisi, Georgia, January 10, 2024.

Wars in Israel, Ukraine take center stage in Israel for Jews rooted in former USSR

Since its creation in 2005, Limmud FSU has held nearly 90 festivals worldwide, drawing over 80,000 participants.

JANUARY 5, 2024ByLARRY LUXNER/JTA
Israeli military reservists were among the 150 people with roots in the former Soviet Union who gathered on Dec. 21, 2023, for an evening of lectures, music and solidarity with Israel.