Ukraine's former President &Prime Minister to formalize and strengthen alliance with Neo-Nazi groups

[reorg]

68. I'll take your word for it

that you're not an anti-Semite.

But why do you keep playing down and distracting from the fact that Neonazis are currently members of the government in Ukraine? The Vice Prime Minister, The Minister of Defense, The Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food and the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine. Also, I have not seen one word of concern or condemnation from you about the violence used during the uprising and the massacre in Odessa, nor about the manhandling of opposition representatives and TV editors we have watched with consternation, nor of the views these Neonazis in Ukraine hold, like "Ukraine is for Ukrainians, the Russians, the Poles and the Jews can go elsewhere".

Instead, we are treated with misinterpretations of some interview or other that didn't get enough media attention to be corrected later with the sorry excuse of "translation mistake" like in other such cases.

Svoboda (political party)

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Social conservatism

Svoboda supports conservative values, and opposes abortion and gay rights.[138][139] In 2012, Human Rights Watch condemned Svoboda for disrupting a gay rights rally, called "a Sabbath of 50 perverts" in an official statement by Svoboda.[140]

Svoboda opposed legislation in 2013 that would have barred employers from discriminating against workers on the basis of their sexual orientation.[141] Journalist David Stern describes the party as a "driving force" behind anti-gay politics in Ukraine, but states that many of its members may not share all its controversial positions.[142]

In April 2013, three Svoboda MPs sponsored a bill banning abortions except in cases involving severe pathology, a medical risk to a woman's life, and rape when proven in court.[143][144] Future Vice Prime Minister Oleksandr Sych, who has long opposed abortion, was one of the authors of the bill and responded to a question about what a pregnant woman should do if she failed to prove the rape in court by encouraging women to "lead the kind of lifestyle to avoid the risk of rape, including refraining from drinking alcohol and being in controversial company."[143][144][145][146]

Allegations of neo-nazism and political extremism

Svoboda has been described as an anti-Semitic and sometimes a Neo-Nazi party by some journalists,[36][125][131] organizations that monitor hate speech,[147] Jewish organizations,[148][149] and political opponents.[55]

Svoboda advisor Yuriy Mykhalchyshyn established a "‘Joseph Goebbels Political Research Centre" in 2005, later changing "Joseph Goebbels" to "Ernst Jünger."[2] Mykhalchyshyn wrote a book in 2010 citing works by Nazi theorists Ernst Röhm, Gregor Strasser and Goebbels.[53][131][150] Elsewhere Mykhalchyshyn referred to the Holocaust as a "period of Light in history".[151]

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Statements by Jewish organizations

Thirty members of the Israeli Knesset condemned the party in a signed letter addressed to the President of the European Parliament. In the letter the Israeli politicians accused Svoboda of "openly glorifying Nazi murder" and "Nazi war criminals".[163] In May 2013 the World Jewish Congress labelled the party as "neo-Nazi" and called for European governments to ban them.[164]

Ukraine’s chief rabbi Yaakov Bleich said “Svoboda is an enigma in many ways,” calling it “a right-wing, nationalist party with anti-Semitic elements in it.”[165] Vyacheslav A. Likhachev of the Eurasian Jewish Congress, said that the “party has a very anti-Semitic core in its ideology,” and that it leads to “symbolic legitimization of neo-Nazis and anti-Semitic ideology in the eyes of society.”[83]

Member of parliament with the pro-presidential Party of Regions,[165] and president of the Jewish Committee of Ukraine Oleksandr Feldman criticized Svoboda as a "party which is notorious for regularly injecting anti-Semitism into their speeches and public pronouncements" and accused the party of "rallying behind this recognition and exploited mistrust of Jews to gain popularity among some in the lower class who painfully welcomed the chance to be a part of campaigns of hate".[166][167] Feldman also writes that Svoboda has helped erode the shame associated with open expressions of anti-Semitism and other ethnic hatreds.[168

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In 2012 international human rights organization The Simon Wiesenthal Center placed Svoboda party leader Oleg Tyahnybok fifth in its list of the top 10 anti-Semites and haters of Israel, based on his previous comments regarding Jews in Ukraine.[169] ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-Ukrainian_Union_%22Svoboda%22