An unidentified group of vandals painted a swastika on the monument honoring the father of Jewish literature, Sholem Aleichem, according to a report posted on Sunday night by Chief Rabbi of Ukraine and Kiev, Moshe Reuven Azman, on his Facebook page.
It is yet another case of anti-Semitism in Ukraine in the past several weeks.
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In September, for instance, unidentified criminals desecrated a monument dedicated to the Jews who perished in a massacre in Bogdanovka village in the Nikolayev region.
The attackers this week spray-painted a swastika in red and left a note with threats to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and former transportation minister Yevhen Chervonenko, who are Jewish; and head of Ukrainian Jewish Committee Eduard Dolinsky.
Haim Ben-Yakov, CEO of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, addressed the Ukrainian government, saying "to our great dismay, recently we have been witnessing an increasing number of anti-Semitic incidents all across Ukraine. The country's law-enforcement agencies must do everything possible to find and prosecute the criminals. Desecration of monuments is an alarming symptom of a troubling condition, which can develop into a more acute form."
"It is urgent that we act promptly and decisively in order to avert further escalation of anti-Semitic sentiment in the country," he stressed.
On Nov. 27, Kiev will host the first Summit of Euroasian Jewry, bringing hundreds of Jewish leaders from across the region together for the first time.
Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.
