Today, the Anti-Defamation League blasted the Ukrainian voting population for their embrace of the anti-Semitic Svoboda Party. Abraham Foxman, ADL National Director, stated:
We are alarmed that 12% of Ukrainians voted for Svoboda, a radical party well-known for its anti-Semitic rhetoric. Its leader, Oleh Tyahnybok, just yesterday confirmed his long-standing claim that Ukraine is ruled by a “Muscovite-Jewish mafia” and that “Ukraine should finally be given to Ukrainians,” clearly excluding hundreds of thousands of Jewish Ukrainians.
Tyahnybok has called Jews “occupiers” of Ukraine and lauded the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, a nationalist militia in WWII, for killing Jews.
Svoboda won three Western regions outright and came in second in Kyiv, the capital. Such strong and concentrated support for Svoboda raises our concern for the significant Jewish communities in Kyiv, Lviv, and the smaller communities in the West.
It is of particular concern that the opposition party of Yulia Tymoshenko has signed a cooperation agreement with Svoboda, giving greater credibility to this fringe extremist political party.
Last week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote an op-ed in the New York Times blasting the current Ukrainian administration and championing the opposition – an opposition that has now linked arms with anti-Semites.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.