Antisemitic vandalism, including occurrences of graffiti and attempted
arson, spiked in 2014, according to a new report by the Association
of Jewish Organizations and Communities (Vaad) of Ukraine.
Vyacheslav Likhachev, who monitors antisemitism for the Euro-Asian Jewish
Congress and the Vaad, recorded 23 such incidents over the course of the year,
within both Ukrainian and separatist held territory. Incidents of vandalism
have held steady at nine annually since 2011, having fallen from a peak of
twenty one in 2006.
“Thus, even though the
statistics for 2015 display significant growth in both antisemitic vandalism
and antisemitic violence in comparison with previous years, the peaks of the
crimes remain in the mid-2000s, and when taking the long perspective, the situation
over the last five years seems to be relatively stable,” Likhachev explained.
Popular targets for vandals were Holocaust memorials, including Kiev’s
Babi Yar. Several synagogues, in Zaporizhya, Simferopol, Mykolayiv, Kiev and
Hust, were also targeted in attempted arson attacks.
According to Likhachev, the increase in the desecration of Jewish sites
can be explained by the fact that “symbolic violence has now been legitimized
in Ukrainian society,” with a significant percentage of Ukrainians approving of
the destruction of statues of Lenin and other Russian and communist symbols.
“The psychological barrier
between theoretical intolerance and symbolic violence has become quite
transparent for persons leaning towards radicalism,” he wrote. “One needs to
take into account that thousands of young people in Ukraine have experienced
making and using incendiary mixtures in the winter struggle, as well as have
undergone even more extreme and traumatic experiences that have seriously
shifted the boundaries of what is acceptable.”
The researcher added that the Jewish community’s outspoken support for
Ukrainian nationalism has “provoked antisemitic acts from pro-Russian
separatists.
The surge in antisemitic violence expected in the wake of early 2014’s
Ukrainian revolution, however, failed to materialize, according to Likhachev’s
numbers.
Only four incidents of violence that could definitely be causally linked
to antisemitic motives occurred during the course of 2014, all of which
occurred in the first half of the year in Kiev, the capital.
In January, during the height of the revolution, an Israeli teacher was
beaten after leaving synagogue following shabbat prayers, followed a week later
by the stabbing of a local yeshiva student near the same synagogue. The
circumstances surrounding both incidents, including the fact that the attackers
knew where to stand to avoid being spotted on security cameras and the
detention of a skinhead scoping the premises, led Likhachev to conclude that
“we are dealing with a professionally-organized provocative act and not with a
spontaneous increase in authentic antisemitic aggression.”
A number of senior Jewish leaders, including Vaad President Joseph
Zissels and Chief Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich, have accused the Kremlin of fomenting
antisemitism to justify its interventions in Ukraine, a charge denied by
Russia.
“Even though I lack complete
certainty in this, I will allow myself the tentative supposition that some antisemitic
incidents, including both attacks and acts of vandalism, were of a provocative
character, intended for use in propaganda – first in context of the struggle
against former Ukrainian president Victor Yanukovich with the Maidan protesters
and then to legitimate Russian aggression. I believe that it is quite likely
that the January attacks on religious Jews in Kyiv, the February desecration of
the synagogue in Simferopol, acts of vandalism in Odessa and possibly some
other incidents were all provocations,” Likhachev asserted.
Accusations of antisemitism have been used by both the pre-revolutionary
Ukrainian government, to discredit protesters, and the Russians, to discredit
the post-revolutionary government. Some antisemitic statements by separatist
leaders as well as Ukrainian nationalists have also been recorded, although a
letter ostensibly on behalf of the rebels calling on Jews to register themselves
is widely believed to have been a forgery.
Some Ukrainians held protests against what they termed the “regime of
Yids and Khazars” following the appointment of a Jew as parliamentary speaker
in December.
“Notably, the use of antisemitism
in public rhetoric has been greatest in territories occupied by Russia – parts
of Donetsk and Lugansk districts,” wrote Likhachev.
