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N/S Part 03: MAUP, an Antisemitic University in Ukraine (Original Post)
newthinking
Mar 2014
OP
Behind the Aegis
(53,951 posts)1. From the International Religious Freedom Report for 2007....
Ukraine
Russia
Anti-Semitism
On September 18, 2006, a group of young men shouting anti-Semitic insults attacked a Jewish man, who suffered a concussion as a result of the incident. According to a spokesman of the Odesa Jewish community, police investigated the incident but made no arrests.
There were several instances in which synagogues, cemeteries, and Holocaust memorials were severely vandalized, particularly in Odesa and Kirovohrad. In May 2007 approximately 20 gravestones in a Jewish cemetery were vandalized in Chernihiv. Also in May incidents of vandalism to synagogues in Dnepropetrovsk and Kolomiya were reported. Police investigated the vandalism but reported no results. In March 2007 vandals painted Nazi symbols on Holocaust memorials in Berdychiv, Zhytomyr Oblast, and Oleksandriya, Kirovohrad Oblast. Law enforcement agencies were investigating the incidents. On February 19, 2007, vandals desecrated a memorial to Jewish Holocaust victims, a memorial plaque in honor of Jewish activist Leon Pinsker, and more than 300 tombstones at the Third Jewish cemetery in Odesa, on which swastikas were drawn. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the local government, and representatives of all religious denominations and ethnic communities strongly condemned the desecration. Local and national law enforcement authorities quickly formed a task force that led to the arrests of three individuals who claimed they desecrated the monuments to see how the public would react. Police declared that none of the vandals belonged to extremist groups, although one of them said he was interested in Nazi literature. Some observers believed that there may have been more perpetrators due to the extent of the desecration. In Kirovohrad the Choral Synagogue was vandalized at least five separate times. According to representatives of the local Jewish community, law enforcement authorities made no progress in the investigation. Except for the arrests in the case of Odesa's Jewish cemetery, there were no other reports of effective police followup to cases of vandalism. In Zhytomyr police had made no criminal charges but continued their investigation in a case involving two teenagers who pleaded guilty to vandalizing several tombstones at an old Jewish cemetery in May 2006.
Anti-Semitic articles appeared frequently in small publications and irregular newsletters, although such articles rarely appeared in the national press. The Interregional Academy of Personnel Management (MAUP), which receives significant funding from several Middle Eastern government sources, remained the most persistent anti-Semitic presence. MAUP, a commuter college that claimed to have more than 50,000 students, published a monthly journal Personnel and a weekly newspaper Personnel Plus, which were the subjects of an ongoing criminal investigation by the Prosecutor General's Office. According to Jewish organizations, MAUP accounted for nearly 90 percent of all anti-Semitic material published in the country during the period covered by this report. In March 2006, 7 such affiliates, out of approximately 50 across the country, were closed because of unspecified licensing violations; 30 more were closed before the September 27, 2006, commemoration of the Babyn Yar massacre, at which President Yushchenko criticized ethnic intolerance and religious hostility in the country. In November 2006 he issued a presidential order to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and Ministry of Science and Education to investigate manifestations of xenophobia at MAUP. In February 2007, following MAUP's successful appeal to the Kyiv Commercial Court, the Ministry of Education was ordered to restore the licenses of 26 regional branches. In May 2007 the mayor of Kyiv responded to the opening of a MAUP bookstand earlier in the month selling anti-Semitic literature near the site of the memorial to the victims of Babyn Yar massacre by closing it and promising to close other MAUP bookstands in the city. MAUP filed a lawsuit against the mayor for his order to remove the bookstand.
In fall 2006, after receiving complaints from the international community, the Government removed copies of the anti-Semitic publication Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion from Parliament, where it was being sold at kiosks.
http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2007/90205.htm
On September 18, 2006, a group of young men shouting anti-Semitic insults attacked a Jewish man, who suffered a concussion as a result of the incident. According to a spokesman of the Odesa Jewish community, police investigated the incident but made no arrests.
There were several instances in which synagogues, cemeteries, and Holocaust memorials were severely vandalized, particularly in Odesa and Kirovohrad. In May 2007 approximately 20 gravestones in a Jewish cemetery were vandalized in Chernihiv. Also in May incidents of vandalism to synagogues in Dnepropetrovsk and Kolomiya were reported. Police investigated the vandalism but reported no results. In March 2007 vandals painted Nazi symbols on Holocaust memorials in Berdychiv, Zhytomyr Oblast, and Oleksandriya, Kirovohrad Oblast. Law enforcement agencies were investigating the incidents. On February 19, 2007, vandals desecrated a memorial to Jewish Holocaust victims, a memorial plaque in honor of Jewish activist Leon Pinsker, and more than 300 tombstones at the Third Jewish cemetery in Odesa, on which swastikas were drawn. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the local government, and representatives of all religious denominations and ethnic communities strongly condemned the desecration. Local and national law enforcement authorities quickly formed a task force that led to the arrests of three individuals who claimed they desecrated the monuments to see how the public would react. Police declared that none of the vandals belonged to extremist groups, although one of them said he was interested in Nazi literature. Some observers believed that there may have been more perpetrators due to the extent of the desecration. In Kirovohrad the Choral Synagogue was vandalized at least five separate times. According to representatives of the local Jewish community, law enforcement authorities made no progress in the investigation. Except for the arrests in the case of Odesa's Jewish cemetery, there were no other reports of effective police followup to cases of vandalism. In Zhytomyr police had made no criminal charges but continued their investigation in a case involving two teenagers who pleaded guilty to vandalizing several tombstones at an old Jewish cemetery in May 2006.
Anti-Semitic articles appeared frequently in small publications and irregular newsletters, although such articles rarely appeared in the national press. The Interregional Academy of Personnel Management (MAUP), which receives significant funding from several Middle Eastern government sources, remained the most persistent anti-Semitic presence. MAUP, a commuter college that claimed to have more than 50,000 students, published a monthly journal Personnel and a weekly newspaper Personnel Plus, which were the subjects of an ongoing criminal investigation by the Prosecutor General's Office. According to Jewish organizations, MAUP accounted for nearly 90 percent of all anti-Semitic material published in the country during the period covered by this report. In March 2006, 7 such affiliates, out of approximately 50 across the country, were closed because of unspecified licensing violations; 30 more were closed before the September 27, 2006, commemoration of the Babyn Yar massacre, at which President Yushchenko criticized ethnic intolerance and religious hostility in the country. In November 2006 he issued a presidential order to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and Ministry of Science and Education to investigate manifestations of xenophobia at MAUP. In February 2007, following MAUP's successful appeal to the Kyiv Commercial Court, the Ministry of Education was ordered to restore the licenses of 26 regional branches. In May 2007 the mayor of Kyiv responded to the opening of a MAUP bookstand earlier in the month selling anti-Semitic literature near the site of the memorial to the victims of Babyn Yar massacre by closing it and promising to close other MAUP bookstands in the city. MAUP filed a lawsuit against the mayor for his order to remove the bookstand.
In fall 2006, after receiving complaints from the international community, the Government removed copies of the anti-Semitic publication Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion from Parliament, where it was being sold at kiosks.
http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2007/90205.htm
Russia
Anti-Semitism
Racially motivated violent attacks against Jews decreased during the reporting period, despite an increase in racist violence targeting other ethnic groups. Anti-Semitism remained a serious problem, and there were several anti-Semitic attacks on persons and synagogues during the reporting period.
In September 2006, a court convicted of attempted murder and of inciting ethnic and religious strife, and sentenced to 16 years in prison, a man who stabbed eight persons during evening prayers in the Chabad synagogue in Moscow in January 2006. The assailant did not deny that anti-Semitism was a motive in his attack. The courts increased the 13-year sentence he received in April 2006 because it had not taken into account the extremist motive of the attack.
A student attempted a copy-cat attack on a synagogue in Rostov-on-Don in January 2006, but security guards stopped him before he could harm anyone. An appeals court overturned his attempted murder conviction on the basis that he was mentally unfit to stand trial, and ordered him to undergo psychiatric treatment.
On October 1, 2005, 21-year-old Andrey Dzyuba was killed by a gang of drunken teenagers in Yekaterinburg. The group yelled anti-Semitic insults at Dzyuba, dragged him to a cemetery, beat him, and killed him with a metal cross grave marker. Courts convicted five of the attackers of murder for reason of ethnic hatred, and gave them sentences ranging from five to ten years in prison. Ten underage attackers who participated in the beating but not the murder were not charged due to their age.
According to the NGO Moscow Bureau of Human Rights (MBHR), the ultranationalist and anti-Semitic Russian National Unity (RNE) paramilitary organization continued to propagate hostility toward Jews and non-Orthodox Christians. The RNE appeared to have lost political influence in some regions since its peak in 1998, but the organization maintained high levels of activity in other regions, such as Voronezh.
Some branches of the ultranationalist and anti-Semitic National Sovereign Way of Russia (NDPR) participated in events organized by local officials.
The primary targets of skinheads were foreigners and individuals from the North Caucasus, but they expressed anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic sentiments as well.
Vandals desecrated several synagogues and Jewish community centers during the reporting period, including in Saratov, Lipetsk, Borovichy, Murmansk, Nizhniy Novgorod, Taganrog, Samara, Petrozavodsk, Perovo, Baltiisk, Kurgan, Khabarovsk, Vladivostok, Tomsk, and Kaliningrad. Officials often classified the crimes as "hooliganism." In the cases where local authorities prosecuted cases, courts generally imposed suspended sentences.
In May 2007 Dmitry Levanov firebombed the Jewish center in Ulyanovsk and nailed a threatening note on its door with a knife. The next day he returned with a friend and threw a brick through its window. He was detained by police, tried in court, and given a 2-year suspended sentence for inciting ethnic hatred. His friend was released without being charged.
On May 5, 2007, an assailant threw a Molotov cocktail at a synagogue in Saratov. No suspects were apprehended. The police were investigating the arson as a case of "hooliganism" rather than as a hate crime. They stated it may not have been clear to the perpetrator that the building was a synagogue.
In the same town at the beginning of April 2007, a Jewish community member's home was targeted in an arson attack. Graffiti reading "kikes to Israel" was written on a fence near the synagogue. Police investigators also classified these incidents as hooliganism and had not detained any suspects as of May 2007.
On the night of March 18, 2007, vandals painted extremist phrases and swastikas on the walls of a synagogue in Voronezh. Officials initiated a criminal investigation on charges of vandalism and inciting extremist activity. The head of the Voronezh Jewish Community believed that the synagogue was attacked in response to the arrest of two young persons suspected of vandalizing a Jewish cemetery in Voronezh.
On the night of March 1, 2007, vandals desecrated a synagogue in Vladivostok and painted swastikas and anti-Semitic phrases on the walls of the synagogue. The synagogue was also vandalized on October 26, 2006.
On December 15, 2006, the Jewish Charity Center in Pskov reported that pepper spray was sprayed through a keyhole during its Hanukkah celebration. Police found no evidence of an attack but agreed to step up patrols when the Center was having public events.
In September 2006 unidentified persons threw stones at synagogues in Khabarovsk and Astrakhan, breaking several windows. One perpetrator threw a Molotov cocktail at the Astrakhan synagogue during this attack.
Vandals also desecrated several Jewish cemeteries and memorials during the reporting period.
On March 30, 2007, unknown vandals defaced seven grave markers in a Jewish cemetery in St. Petersburg with swastikas and graffiti. Police were investigating.
On March 29, 2007, unknown vandals spray painted swastikas and fascist graffiti on a holocaust memorial in Kaliningrad. The local Jewish community chairman asked the prosecutor to investigate.
On March 6, 2007, vandals desecrated a Jewish cemetery in Voronezh, ruining more than 20 tombstones. Officials initiated a criminal case under article 244 of the Criminal Code -- desecrating a cemetery.
Charges of "hooliganism" were quite common for crimes that would normally be considered bias crimes against a particular community, but prosecutors, even by governmental opinion, were reluctant to pursue aggravated charges of racial bias in crimes and were many times content with the lesser charge being applied. At times, there was a fear of not being able to win a court judgment of a bias crime.
There were many reports of anti-Semitic publications during the reporting period.
A number of small, radical-nationalist newspapers that print anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim, and xenophobic articles, many of which appeared to violate the law against extremism, were readily available throughout the country. There were also reports of anti-Semitic literature on sale in cities across the country. The estimated number of xenophobic publications exceeded 100, many sponsored by the local chapters of the National Power Party. In addition, there were at least 80 websites in the country that disseminated anti-Semitic propaganda.
The Euro-Asian Congress noted that in 2006 prosecutors recorded the highest number of attempts to prosecute purveyors of anti-Semitic propaganda. While the Government has publicly denounced nationalist ideology and supported legal action against anti-Semitic acts, the reluctance of some lower-level officials to call such acts anything other than "hooliganism" remained an impediment.
In June 2007 a court in Novosibirsk sentenced the publisher of a local newspaper to two years in prison for inciting anti-Semitism. He had published articles that openly called for violence against Jews.
In April 2007, at a book fair in Moscow, police arrested a trader in extremist books and charged him with inciting ethnic, racial, and religious enmity. The police stated that they were seeking to identify the publisher of these materials.
Members of the State Duma and other prominent figures expressed anti-Semitic sentiments in a January 2005 letter, urging the prosecutor general to investigate Jewish organizations and initiate proceedings to ban them, charging that a Russian translation of ancient Jewish law, the Kitzur Shulchan Arukh, incited hatred against non-Jews. According to the ADL, in 2006 human rights organizations made numerous unsuccessful attempts to prosecute the authors of the "Letter of 500."
The Rodina party merged with the Party of Life and the Party of Pensioners to form the new "For a Just Russia" party in 2006. Rodina members with known anti-Semitic views generally did not approve of the merger and did not join the new party. "For a Just Russia" was led by Federation Council Speaker Sergey Mironov, who frequently spoke out against intolerance and anti-Semitism, including at a September 2006 visit to the Babiy Yar memorial in Ukraine.
In 2006 Nikolay Kurianovich, an LDPR Duma deputy, initiated and publicized a "list of the enemies of the Russian people," which mostly featured Jewish names. On March 7, 2007, aides to Kurianovich were expelled from the Duma chambers for wearing swastika armbands. Kurianovich declared their expulsion part of a "struggle against all that is Russian."
http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2007/90196.htm
Racially motivated violent attacks against Jews decreased during the reporting period, despite an increase in racist violence targeting other ethnic groups. Anti-Semitism remained a serious problem, and there were several anti-Semitic attacks on persons and synagogues during the reporting period.
In September 2006, a court convicted of attempted murder and of inciting ethnic and religious strife, and sentenced to 16 years in prison, a man who stabbed eight persons during evening prayers in the Chabad synagogue in Moscow in January 2006. The assailant did not deny that anti-Semitism was a motive in his attack. The courts increased the 13-year sentence he received in April 2006 because it had not taken into account the extremist motive of the attack.
A student attempted a copy-cat attack on a synagogue in Rostov-on-Don in January 2006, but security guards stopped him before he could harm anyone. An appeals court overturned his attempted murder conviction on the basis that he was mentally unfit to stand trial, and ordered him to undergo psychiatric treatment.
On October 1, 2005, 21-year-old Andrey Dzyuba was killed by a gang of drunken teenagers in Yekaterinburg. The group yelled anti-Semitic insults at Dzyuba, dragged him to a cemetery, beat him, and killed him with a metal cross grave marker. Courts convicted five of the attackers of murder for reason of ethnic hatred, and gave them sentences ranging from five to ten years in prison. Ten underage attackers who participated in the beating but not the murder were not charged due to their age.
According to the NGO Moscow Bureau of Human Rights (MBHR), the ultranationalist and anti-Semitic Russian National Unity (RNE) paramilitary organization continued to propagate hostility toward Jews and non-Orthodox Christians. The RNE appeared to have lost political influence in some regions since its peak in 1998, but the organization maintained high levels of activity in other regions, such as Voronezh.
Some branches of the ultranationalist and anti-Semitic National Sovereign Way of Russia (NDPR) participated in events organized by local officials.
The primary targets of skinheads were foreigners and individuals from the North Caucasus, but they expressed anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic sentiments as well.
Vandals desecrated several synagogues and Jewish community centers during the reporting period, including in Saratov, Lipetsk, Borovichy, Murmansk, Nizhniy Novgorod, Taganrog, Samara, Petrozavodsk, Perovo, Baltiisk, Kurgan, Khabarovsk, Vladivostok, Tomsk, and Kaliningrad. Officials often classified the crimes as "hooliganism." In the cases where local authorities prosecuted cases, courts generally imposed suspended sentences.
In May 2007 Dmitry Levanov firebombed the Jewish center in Ulyanovsk and nailed a threatening note on its door with a knife. The next day he returned with a friend and threw a brick through its window. He was detained by police, tried in court, and given a 2-year suspended sentence for inciting ethnic hatred. His friend was released without being charged.
On May 5, 2007, an assailant threw a Molotov cocktail at a synagogue in Saratov. No suspects were apprehended. The police were investigating the arson as a case of "hooliganism" rather than as a hate crime. They stated it may not have been clear to the perpetrator that the building was a synagogue.
In the same town at the beginning of April 2007, a Jewish community member's home was targeted in an arson attack. Graffiti reading "kikes to Israel" was written on a fence near the synagogue. Police investigators also classified these incidents as hooliganism and had not detained any suspects as of May 2007.
On the night of March 18, 2007, vandals painted extremist phrases and swastikas on the walls of a synagogue in Voronezh. Officials initiated a criminal investigation on charges of vandalism and inciting extremist activity. The head of the Voronezh Jewish Community believed that the synagogue was attacked in response to the arrest of two young persons suspected of vandalizing a Jewish cemetery in Voronezh.
On the night of March 1, 2007, vandals desecrated a synagogue in Vladivostok and painted swastikas and anti-Semitic phrases on the walls of the synagogue. The synagogue was also vandalized on October 26, 2006.
On December 15, 2006, the Jewish Charity Center in Pskov reported that pepper spray was sprayed through a keyhole during its Hanukkah celebration. Police found no evidence of an attack but agreed to step up patrols when the Center was having public events.
In September 2006 unidentified persons threw stones at synagogues in Khabarovsk and Astrakhan, breaking several windows. One perpetrator threw a Molotov cocktail at the Astrakhan synagogue during this attack.
Vandals also desecrated several Jewish cemeteries and memorials during the reporting period.
On March 30, 2007, unknown vandals defaced seven grave markers in a Jewish cemetery in St. Petersburg with swastikas and graffiti. Police were investigating.
On March 29, 2007, unknown vandals spray painted swastikas and fascist graffiti on a holocaust memorial in Kaliningrad. The local Jewish community chairman asked the prosecutor to investigate.
On March 6, 2007, vandals desecrated a Jewish cemetery in Voronezh, ruining more than 20 tombstones. Officials initiated a criminal case under article 244 of the Criminal Code -- desecrating a cemetery.
Charges of "hooliganism" were quite common for crimes that would normally be considered bias crimes against a particular community, but prosecutors, even by governmental opinion, were reluctant to pursue aggravated charges of racial bias in crimes and were many times content with the lesser charge being applied. At times, there was a fear of not being able to win a court judgment of a bias crime.
There were many reports of anti-Semitic publications during the reporting period.
A number of small, radical-nationalist newspapers that print anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim, and xenophobic articles, many of which appeared to violate the law against extremism, were readily available throughout the country. There were also reports of anti-Semitic literature on sale in cities across the country. The estimated number of xenophobic publications exceeded 100, many sponsored by the local chapters of the National Power Party. In addition, there were at least 80 websites in the country that disseminated anti-Semitic propaganda.
The Euro-Asian Congress noted that in 2006 prosecutors recorded the highest number of attempts to prosecute purveyors of anti-Semitic propaganda. While the Government has publicly denounced nationalist ideology and supported legal action against anti-Semitic acts, the reluctance of some lower-level officials to call such acts anything other than "hooliganism" remained an impediment.
In June 2007 a court in Novosibirsk sentenced the publisher of a local newspaper to two years in prison for inciting anti-Semitism. He had published articles that openly called for violence against Jews.
In April 2007, at a book fair in Moscow, police arrested a trader in extremist books and charged him with inciting ethnic, racial, and religious enmity. The police stated that they were seeking to identify the publisher of these materials.
Members of the State Duma and other prominent figures expressed anti-Semitic sentiments in a January 2005 letter, urging the prosecutor general to investigate Jewish organizations and initiate proceedings to ban them, charging that a Russian translation of ancient Jewish law, the Kitzur Shulchan Arukh, incited hatred against non-Jews. According to the ADL, in 2006 human rights organizations made numerous unsuccessful attempts to prosecute the authors of the "Letter of 500."
The Rodina party merged with the Party of Life and the Party of Pensioners to form the new "For a Just Russia" party in 2006. Rodina members with known anti-Semitic views generally did not approve of the merger and did not join the new party. "For a Just Russia" was led by Federation Council Speaker Sergey Mironov, who frequently spoke out against intolerance and anti-Semitism, including at a September 2006 visit to the Babiy Yar memorial in Ukraine.
In 2006 Nikolay Kurianovich, an LDPR Duma deputy, initiated and publicized a "list of the enemies of the Russian people," which mostly featured Jewish names. On March 7, 2007, aides to Kurianovich were expelled from the Duma chambers for wearing swastika armbands. Kurianovich declared their expulsion part of a "struggle against all that is Russian."
http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2007/90196.htm
radicalliberal
(907 posts)2. I have no doubt these videos would upset me, and I'm not even Jewish!
I'm just a guy who cares about human rights.
Concerning the very long history of anti-Semitism in the Ukraine (and the rest of Russia): "The more things change, the more they stay the same." * sigh * 
levp
(188 posts)3. Open letter of Ukrainian Jews to Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin.
To the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin
Mr. President!
We are Jewish citizens of Ukraine: businessmen, managers, public figures, scientists and scholars, artists and musicians. We are addressing you on behalf of the multi-national people of Ukraine, Ukraine's national minorities, and on behalf of the Jewish community.
(...)
The Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine are not being humiliated or discriminated against, their civil rights have not been limited. Meanderings about “forced Ukrainization” and “bans on the Russian language” that have been so common in Russian media are on the heads of those who invented them. Your certainty of the growth of anti-Semitism in Ukraine also 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.
(...)
Unfortunately, we must admit that in recent days stability in our country has been threatened. And this threat is coming from the Russian government, namely – from you personally. It is your policy of inciting separatism and crude pressure placed on Ukraine that threatens us and all Ukrainian people, including those who live in Crimea and the Ukrainian South-East. South-eastern Ukrainians will soon see that for themselves.
Vladimir Vladimirovich, we highly value your concern about the safety and rights of Ukrainian national minorities. But we do not wish to be “defended” by sundering Ukraine and annexing its territory. We decisively call for you not to intervene in internal Ukrainian affairs, to return the Russian armed forces to their normal fixed peacetime location, and to stop encouraging pro-Russian separatism.
Vladimir Vladimirovich, we are quite capable of protecting our rights in a constructive dialogue and in cooperation with the government and civil society of a sovereign, democratic, and united Ukraine. We strongly urge you not to destabilize the situation in our country and to stop your attempts of delegitimizing the new Ukrainian government.
Signed:
Josef Zisels Chairman of the Association of Jewish Communities and Organizations of Ukraine (VAAD) Ukraine, Executive Vice President of the Congress of National Communities of Ukraine
Alexander Suslensky D.Sc., Vice President of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine, businessman
Andrei Adamovsky First Vice President of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine, member of the “Hillel” Jewish Student organization Observation Council (citizen of Russia)
Rabbi Alex Dukhovny Head Rabbi of the Ukrainian Progressive Judaism communities
Rabbi Reuven Stamov Head Rabbi of the Ukrainian Traditional Judaism communities
Alexander Paskhaver Member of the VAAD Ukraine Coordation Council, economist
Leonid Finberg Director of the NaUKMA Center for the Studies of History and Culture of Eastern European Jewry, VAAD Ukraine Vice Chairman
Anatoliy Podolsky Director of the Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies, Vice Chairman of VAAD Ukraine
Igor Kuperberg Chairman of the Zionist Federation of Ukraine, Vice Chairman of VAAD Ukraine
Semen Belman Vice President of the Jewish Council of Ukraine, President of the Chernigiv Jewish Community
Alexander Gaidar Leader of the Union of Ukrainian Progressive Judaism Religious Communities
Vyacheslav Likhachev CNCU Chief expert in monitoring and analysing xenophobia and anti-Semitism, member of the VAAD Ukraine Coordination Council(citizen of Russia and Israel)
Michael Gold Editor-in-chief of the VAAD Ukraine newspaper “Hadashot”
Galina Haraz Engineer (citizen of Ukraine and Israel)
Igor Turov PhD in history, Director of the Jewish Studies Certificate Program of VAAD Ukraine, VAAD Ukraine Presidium member
Diana Gold VAAD Ukraine Presidium member
Alexander Roitburg Artist
Evgen Greben Director of the “Maccabi” Jewish Cultural and Sports Society (Kyiv)
Grigoriy Pickman “B'nei B'rith Leopolis” President
Igor Kerez VAAD Ukraine Trustee Board member, businessman
Artem Fedorchuk, Director of the Intarnationsl Centar on Jewish Education and Field Studies
(Signatures still being collected)
March 4, 2014
Open letter of Ukrainian Jews to Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin
(emphasis mine)
