JLC Condemns Attempts to use Ukrainian Jews as an Excuse to Destabilize Ukraine
April 18, 2014: New York, NY -- The Jewish Labor Committee today condemned the attempt to use the Ukrainian Jews as an excuse for Russia to destabilize and take over portions of Ukraine, stated JLC President Stuart Appelbaum.
On March 27, 2014, a group of prominent Ukrainian Jews -- businessmen, scientists, scholars, political figures, rabbis, artists and others -- issued an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, refuting his statements that they were being humiliated, discriminated against and in danger of a pogrom being launched against them by fascists attempting to dominate the government in Kiev. The group pointed out that while they are well aware that those who helped overthrow former Ukrainian president Viktor Yankovych included some ultra-nationalist groups who are indeed anti-Semitic, they "are well controlled by civil society and the new Ukrainian government - which is more than can be said for the Russian neo-Nazis, who are encouraged by your security services." The open letter went on to state: "Your certainty of the growth of anti-Semitism in Ukraine does not correspond to the actual facts. It seems you have confused Ukraine with Russia, where Jewish organizations have noticed growth in anti-Semitic tendencies last year."
"Now we see an even more alarming development," says Jewish Labor Committee President Appelbaum, "and if this is true, it highlights the anti-Semitism not of the new Kiev Government but of the pro-Russian forces in Ukraine."
The Novosti Donbassa news agency reported that a notice ordering all Jews over the age of 16 to register at the government building occupied by the pro-Russian insurgents or face deportation was posted near the local synagogue in the city of Donetsk. Jews are also to pay a registration fee of $50 and list all real estate and vehicles owned. The notice apparently bore the stamps of the self-proclaimed People's Republic of Donetsk and was signed by its pro-Russian, self-styled people's governor Denis Pushilin.
If this report is accurate, people who do not register will be stripped of their citizenship and deported and their property will be confiscated.
The Jewish Labor Committee was founded 80 years ago in response to the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe. Today, the JLC condemns the attempt to use the Ukrainian Jews as an excuse for Russia to destabilize and take over portions of Ukraine.