Thread by @just_whatever

Thread to follow on why putting Putin’s (sorry for tautology) image on your campaign ad is problematic at least. 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼

https://twitter.com/aahronheim/status/1155409109526728704

For obvious reasons Netanyahu uses “brutal macho” image of Russian President to show that he himself is a powerful macho as well (small disclaimer: Bibi served in Sayeret Matkal, I don’t think one needs to prove anything in this regard after it) who is in a “Different League” 2/

“Different league” words were used with Putin and Trump. Logic is clear - I play with big guys and sit with them face to face and solve global problems like a superpower while still representing a small country of 9 million people. Why he chose to use Putin for his campaign? 3/

He appeals to many Israelis to show that Israel managed to create strong relationships with Russia which was historically very hostile to Israel, but is less hostile during Putin’s almost 20 years in power. While generally true, for many Israelis who wanted to support Bibi 4/

this image with Putin doesn’t add anything new or substantial. When he put himself with Trump the sentiment was clearer and better - Trump our ally, recognized Jerusalem, moved embassy, recognized Golan Heights, “biggest friend of Israel” narrative and etc. Made a lot of sense 5/

to use Trump, because his base got stronger. With Putin image, I believe his advisors advised to use Putin to pull Lieberman’s votes away from him towards Likud and to make Lieberman more agreeable to do coalition negotiations. While in a shallow view it is possible, there are 6/

big underwater stones here that Netanyahu didn’t consider much. It consists of several layers inside the Russian Jewish community that I will try to outline.
Don’t forget that majority of Russian speaking Jews are leaning right and some are even leaning hard to the right. 7/

It happened as a result of anti-socialism vaccine they got by living under socialism. So they are his voters too, but Russian speaking Jews are not homogenous group.
1. Jews come from different countries of former USSR and even via Germany/USA. They all speak Russian, true, 8/

but they are different. For Russian speaking Jews from Central Asia Putin’s image means not that much. For Jews from Caucasus it means slightly more, however since 2008 the Jews of Georgia are not favorable towards Putin due to Russian-Georgian war. 9/
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Geo…

Since 2014 Ukrainian Jews don’t like Putin at all for obvious reasons of instigated crisis, further territory expansion and occupation of Crimea led by Russian “polite green men”, as Putin called them. There are a lot of Ukrainian Jews who live here. 10/

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian…

Jews of Baltic countries or those Russian speaking Jews who came via Germany/USA immigration have different attitude to Russia, but gigantic power concentrated in Putin’s hard is hardly viewed positively by them.

2. Russian speaking Jews come from different Aliya waves. 11/

Jews who came in 70s were running from USSR, many were dissidents. They remember how Russia treated them and Putin viewed as another manifestation of USSR’s KGB in power.
Then it was Big Aliya wave in early 90s. And here you will have a lot of Putin’s fans among those who 12/

came to Israel in the age when they were 40+. Their youth passed in USSR, a powerful country that some still (🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️) regret to lose. Their memory is selective and they remember good things and forget bad things. These people will probably consider this image positive. 13/

Will it be sufficient to move them from Lieberman who basically appeals to similar sentiments? Highly doubtful.
Then you have Aliya from late 90s and from 2000s. They moved from Putin’s Russia. They know the price of what is happening in that “different league”. Many left 14/

Russia because of Putin and his regime. Of course there are people who still like him and his vertical of power, but their numbers shrink as all Russian speaking Jews follow the news from Russia. Just yesterday there was a massive protest in which dozens of people were 15/

brutally beaten with batons by Russian police for a crime of simply demanding to respect their rights and respect Russian Constitution. It was outrageous and many Russian Jews passionately joined the opposition there and where among detained, arrested and beaten. And last. 16/

3. Russian Jews of different ages see Putin differently. The older the generation is (excluding those who came in 70s), the more they are likely to see Putin favorably, the younger they are, the more they are likely to abhor what Putin does. Because of this image Likud will 17/

face a protest of young Russian Jews who demand to take it down as an insult for many members of Russian Jewish community. Maybe next time Netanyahu will consults with people who advised Lieberman? He does a good job in getting Russian Jews’ votes. 18/18

https://twitter.com/Romka_Gold/status/1155413641820352512?s=20