Israel accused the nationalists of doubling anti-Semitic sentiments in Ukraine

The Ministry for the Affairs of the Israeli Diaspora published a report in which Ukraine took first place among the countries of the former USSR on anti-Semitic statements and violent actions against Jews, their property, shrines and community institutions, reports RIA Novosti Ukraine.

According to the authors of the report, the number of anti-Semitic incidents has doubled in Ukraine. The document criticizes the activities of the Institute of National Memory headed by Vladimir Viatrovich, which, as noted, is engaged in the rehabilitation of Ukrainian nationalists involved in persecution of Jews during the Second World War and a short period of independence that followed the October Revolution of 1917.

"The reaction of nationalist elements to Jewish protests against this includes calls for expelling Jews from Ukraine, or at least to remind them who is the master in the country. In addition, there are allegations that the damage done to Jews was a legitimate act in the light of their involvement in the woes of the Ukrainian people, especially the great famine, the Holodomor of 1932-33, without mentioning Jewish citizens who also became its victims," the said the report.

According to Israeli officials, in Ukraine, the largest number of cases of anti-Semitic propaganda in politics and vandalism against Jewish objects, such as cemeteries, Holocaust memorials and community buildings, have been documented for the second year in a row.

The authors of the report blamed the Ukrainian authorities on the insufficiently harsh reaction to manifestations of anti-Semitism, which are regarded as hooliganism, and not as "hate crimes", resulting in the repeated desecration of the same objects.