As the capital of Kyrgyzstan erupted in violence last week, members of the Central Asian nation’s small Jewish community held their breath and sat tight.
In the most frightening incident for local Jews, the synagogue in the capital city of Bishkek was attacked, with assailants hurling Molotov cocktails at the one-story building and trying to set it aflame. Kyrgyzstan is a majority Muslim country, but it is not known for anti-Semitism.
“It’s the first time in the history of our community here that we see such clear signs of anti-Semitism,” the country’s chief rabbi, Arieh Reichman, told Reuters after the attack. “Kyrgyzstan has always been hospitable. During Soviet times and under its later leaders, it has always been tolerant. So what is happening right now is very alarming.”
Meanwhile, the ORT school in Bishkek shuttered its doors, sending students home just as they were returning from their Passover break on April 7.
With public transportation suspended and the city in disarray, only three people made it to morning services at the local synagogue that day. Meanwhile, Jewish community leaders exchanged frantic phone calls, updating each other about the situation on the street.
Also, a journalist reported having an encounter with some drunken young people demanding to know if the journalist was Jewish. Elsewhere, anti-Semitic banners were posted in a few locations in Bishkek.
During the unrest, opposition protesters stormed the presidential compound, overwhelmed the police and took control of the government. The president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, fled, and more than 40 people were killed. It’s still not clear where this speedy revolution will leave the country — or its estimated 1,500 Jews, most of whom live in Bishkek.
Local Jews speculated that the outburst of anti-Semitism was prompted by resentment toward Evgeny Gurevich, a 33-year-old American Jew with close ties to the deposed president.
Kyrgyz blogs and media outlets had been buzzing about the connection between the two men for the last month or so, since a Rome court issued an arrest warrant for Gurevich in March on suspicion of money laundering and fraud. Opponents of the Kyrgyz regime had used this news to blame the country’s president for consorting with criminals. Gurevich had no known ties with the Jewish community in Kyrgzstan.
The head of the Jewish Agency for Israel’s FSU region, Alex Katz, arrived in Kyrgyzstan to assess the situation. The Jewish Agency said it is in contact with Jews there who are in various stages of their aliyah process and is eager to assist others interested in immigrating to Israel.
More than half of Bishkek’s Jews are on community welfare, receiving aid through the local Hesed center, which is sponsored by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
The Jews of Kyrgyzstan are largely second- and third-generation descendants of Jews from Ukraine, Belarus and central Russia who fled the Nazis during World War II. Even during the era of Soviet state-sponsored anti-Semitism, there was little hostility toward Jews in Kyrgyzstan, local Jews said. Though some 75 percent of Kyrgyzstan’s 5.5 million people are Muslim, radical Islam has not really gained a foothold.
The closest Israeli Embassy, in neighboring Kazakhstan, said it was tracking events closely.
The ousted government, while widely considered repressive, was also pro-Western, and the United States has a large air base in Kyrgyzstan that’s critical to the NATO campaign in nearby Afghanistan. Roza Otunbayeva, Kyrgyzstan’s interim leader, said that her government would extend the lease of the base to the United States after the current one-year deal expires in July.
Kyrgyzstan is bordered by three other former Soviet Republics — Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan — as well as by China.
“Jews were treated good in Bishkek, even in Soviet times, and we hope that whatever government is in power in Kyrgyzstan, this will remain the same and Jews will prosper here,” Reichman said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.