Forget about oil.... Here's a clue to the war's REAL motive:
Russian ultranationalist says Jerusalem belongs to Israel
Mon Jan 20, 4:16 PM ET
By STEVE WEIZMAN, Associated Press Writer
JERUSALEM - A prominent ultranationalist member of Russia's parliament landed in Israel on Monday amid charges of anti-Semitism but took a strong pro-Israel stance on his arrival.
Deputy Speaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the head of the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party, is making the visit - his first to Israel - at the invitation of the local Progressive Liberal Democratic Party, a fledgling party of Russian-speaking immigrants fighting for a spot in parliament in Israel's Jan. 28 election.
Israel agreed to admit Zhirinovsky with reluctance, and Foreign Ministry official Michael Brodsky stressed that the visit was an unofficial one.
"We approved his visa after some deliberation but advised public figures not to meet him because of his anti-Semitic expressions in the past," Brodsky said.
In one incident, in April 2001, Zhirinovsky refused to join fellow-deputies standing for a moment's silence on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
"There are so many holidays. Should the Russian parliament stand every day?" he said at the time, using the word for ethnic Russian, instead of a more neutral term that applies to all Russian citizens, including Jews.
Speaking to reporters at Tel Aviv's airport on Monday, Zhirinovsky dismissed Palestinian demands to have the capital of a future Palestinian state in Jerusalem, over which Israel claims full sovereignty.
"Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, Jerusalem is a special kind of city," he said. "The Palestinians should be given somewhere else and keep quiet."
Zhirinovski has been accused of many forms of extremism and anti-Semitism during his political career, which has been typified by outbursts of temper. Israel TV on Monday ran clips of Zhirinovsky throwing a glass of water at a fellow guest on a talk show and trying to throttle a member of parliament.
However, Ukrainian-born Israeli legislator Roman Bronfman said Zhirinovsky was not really an anti-Semite; rather, an attention-seeker.
"He is a professional provocateur, whose influence at home is not great," Bronfman told The Associated Press.
Zhirinovsky's hosts, the Progressive Liberal Democratic Party, were unknown to most Israelis before Tuesday's visit, which brought the party and its leader, Alexander Radko, prime time exposure on the country's main TV channels.
"Nobody knows the party's leadership," said Bronfman, who is running for parliament on a rival ticket. "Its manifesto and political philosophy are unclear."
story.news.yahoo.com
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