Anti-Semitism is not an issue in Ukraine, whereas the artificial tension in this matter is created by Russia, the head of the supervisory board of the Ukrainian-Jewish Encounter public initiative, Berel Rodal, has said.
“One can argue that in terms of manifestations of anti-Semitism,
Ukraine ranks low in world countries’ ranking, it is at its bottom,”
Rodal said at a press conference in Kyiv on Friday.
According to him, only fourteen cases of hate crimes were registered
in Ukraine in 2011-2012. “Anti-Semitism is a much smaller problem in
Ukraine than in other countries,” he added.
Rodal stressed that the Jewish community of Ukraine is more likely to face anti-Semitism, which comes from Russia.
For his part, Director of Ukrainian-Jewish Encounter Adrian
Karatnycky said: “There are not so many manifestations of Anti-Semitism
in Ukraine, except in cases when Russian ultra-nationalist forces
intervene in events in Ukraine.”
Karatnycky also noted that rare anti-Jewish statements among
nationalist forces in Ukraine were the exception, as these do not
reflect the position of the political forces as a whole, but rather the
sentiments of their individual members. These are the views held by the
minority, and are not very popular in the country, he added.
