You're reading: Rabynovych: Ukrainian authorities trying to deprive him of his Jewish TV channel

President of the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress Vadym Rabynovych, who is also the owner of the first Jewish international TV channel Jewish News One (JN1), has said that members of the current authorities are trying to deprive him of his channel, reads a statement posted on the Web site of the United Jewish Community of Ukraine on Friday.

Rabynovych has already submitted a respective statement to the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine.

“A senior official from the current government visited Rabynovych on
January 17 and, threatening harassment, including physical violence,
demanded that the JN1 television channel be transferred to them within a
week,” reads the statement.

In his statement, Rabynovych said he did not believe that the visit
by this official was authorized, and “believes that what is happening is
the individual racketeering of a single representative of the system of
government.”

Jewish News One is a 24-hour news channel broadcasting programs in
eight languages, and has its own correspondent centers in Brussels, Tel
Aviv and Kyiv. JN1 broadcasts via satellite to Europe, the United States
and the Middle East. Viewers can also watch the news online at the Web
site www.jn1.tv.

JN1 is an independent private channel founded by two Ukrainian
businessmen and philanthropists who are well-known in the international
Jewish community – Ihor Kolomoisky and Vadym Rabynovych.