Two Rabbis in Tow

By COLlive reporter

He apparently likes their presence.

After inviting them to his royal inauguration , Russian President Vladimir Putin landed at the Ben Gurion Airport on Monday for a state visit to Israel with 2 rabbis in his entourage.

Russia’s Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar and Rabbi Alexander Boroda, the well-connected chair of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, were seen on national television in Israel and Russia accompanying the President.

During his visit, Putin inaugurated a memorial in the city of Netanya for Soviet troops killed in World War II which was attended by President Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

“We welcome the Chief Rabbi of Russia, Rabbi Lazar,” Netanya Mayor Miriam Feirberg said in the opening of her remarks.

Both rabbis (Boroda was ordained in recent years) enjoy a close relationship with Putin since his election to the Kremlin in 2000 and his trailblazing attendance in the opening of the Marina Roscha Synagogue and Jewish Community Center in Moscow.

“Here in the Holy Land, this beautiful country, we know that peace can be fragile and we must ensure that the Nazis’ doctrine of crime stay in the past,” Putin said in his remarks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Foreign Minister Lieberman and National Security Advisor Yaakov Amidror later met with Putin in Jerusalem and urged him to sanction Iran over its nuclear program.