Joel Lion: No reason to deem Sheptytsky “Righteous Among the Nations”

Ambassador of the State of Israel to Ukraine Joel Lion. Photo: lb.ua

The Ambassador of the State of Israel to Ukraine, Joel Lion, said that the information now available at the "Yad Vashem" Memorial Complex is not enough to recognize the UGCC Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky as “Righteous Among the Nations”. He stated this in an interview with LB.ua.

Answering the question about the outcome of the appeal of Chief Rabbi of Ukraine Moshe Asman to Yad Vashem with a request to grant the UGCC Metropolitan the title of “Righteous Among the Nations”, Joel Lion said that in order to begin the procedure of awarding the title, it is necessary to have witnesses of the feat.

According to him, “this is a very long, very difficult process. That is why the title “Righteous” is so valuable and is not assigned to everyone. There are a lot of criteria for such an award.”

At the same time, he noted that “several years ago, when we talked about Sheptytsky, they replied: if any new information appears, they will be glad to once again examine his story.”

Yet, according to Joel Lyon, “until today no new information has been received,” and “the information that is available now is not sufficient.”

He also said that “the process of conferring the title begins with the fact that the saved come to "Yad Vashem" and bring documents confirming that someone saved them ... If no one came to Yad Vashem and there are no supporting documents, nothing will be done, because there is an award procedure."

Joel Loon emphasized that “a title is awarded as long as "Yad Vashem", which is the representative of the Government of Israel, has different information available other than the one offered on Wikipedia.”

Yad Vashem is the Israeli National Holocaust and Heroism Memorial, located in Jerusalem. It was founded in 1953 by the decision of the Israeli parliament with the aim of perpetuating the memory of Jews – victims of Nazism in 1933-1945 and of the destroyed Jewish communities.

We will remind that Sheptytsky welcomed the Nazi occupation of Ukraine, sent Hitler congratulatory telegrams on the occasion the conquest of Kyiv. Also, the head of the Uniates blessed the creation and spiritual nourishment of the Third Reich SS Galician Division.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine requested "Yad Vashem" to recognize Metropolitan of the UGCC Andrei Sheptytsky as the "Righteous Among the Nations".

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