21 Facts About Israel Shamir

Israel Shamir, known by the names Robert David, Vassili Krasevsky, Joran Jermas and Adam Ermash, is a Swedish writer and journalist, known for promoting antisemitism and Holocaust denial.

Israel Shamir has published or self-published a number of his books; his book Flowers of Galilee was banned for a time in France over allegations it was inciting racial hatred and antisemitism.

Israel Shamir says that he was born in a Jewish family in Russia, and converted to Orthodox Christianity.

Israel Shamir says that he was born in Novosibirsk, Siberia, in 1947, although the Shorter Jewish Encyclopedia says that a man called Schmerler was born in 1948.

Israel Shamir says that he "studied mathematics and law at Novosibirsk University".

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Israel Shamir claimed to have served in the Israeli Paratroopers Brigade and fought in the Yom Kippur War.

Israel Shamir was known as Joran Jermas from 2001 to 2005, before changing his name to Adam Ermash, although continuing to use Israel Shamir as a pen name.

Israel Shamir says that he went to Russia and wrote about the political changes in the country until 1993, for newspapers including Pravda and the extreme nationalist Zavtra.

In 2005, Israel Shamir was featured as a speaker in the "Zionism As the Biggest Threat to Modern Civilization" conference co-chaired by David Duke in Ukraine, and sponsored by the Interregional Academy of Personnel Management which has been associated with antisemitic discourse in Eastern Europe.

Bachner has said that Israel Shamir's writing would have been of little interest had they been published only on his website Flowers of Galilee was issued by a respected publisher and promoted by parts of the left in Sweden.

Israel Shamir had expressed his belief in the "blood libel" on his website.

At an event at the British Houses of Parliament in 2005, Israel Shamir claimed "Jews indeed own, control and edit a big share of mass media" and said US foreign policy in the Middle East was a "fight for ensuring Jewish supremacy".

In 2011, Israel Shamir posted unredacted copies of diplomatic cables dealing with former Soviet states that hinted at the names of State Department sources that The Guardian and WikiLeaks had redacted.

In 2010, Israel Shamir described his relation with WikiLeaks as being "a freelancer who was 'accredited' to WikiLeaks".

Israel Shamir's son Johannes Wahlstrom is a spokesperson for WikiLeaks in Sweden.

Yulia Latynina, writing in The Moscow Times, alleged that Israel Shamir concocted a cable which allegedly quoted European Union diplomats' plans to walk out of the Durban II speech by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, for publication in the pro-Putin Russian Reporter in December 2010.

Israel Shamir has denied this accusation, though he has described Ahmadinejad as being a "brave and charismatic leader" on his website.

Israel Shamir has never written for WikiLeaks or any associated organization, under any name and we have no plan that he do so.

Israel Shamir has been reported to have passed "sensitive cables" to the Lukashenko government.

Israel Shamir is believed to have visited Belarus in December 2010 and to have given Vladimir Makei, then Lukashenko's chief of staff, unpublished and unredacted US diplomatic cables.

Ball wrote in The Sunday Times in 2019 that Index contacted him less than a fortnight after Israel Shamir left WikiLeaks headquarters with a photograph of Israel Shamir leaving the Belarus interior ministry.