The anti-Semitic incidents in Eastern Ukraine are created by supporters of separatism, but the Ukrainian interim government has nothing to do with it. This was the statement by Ira Forman, the US Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, at the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center, according to the Russian edition of Voices of America.

“Ukraine is especially important given pro-Russian propaganda that we have seen increasingly throughout this government. Stories of increasing anti-Semitism, stories of how this interim government is populated by Fascists and anti-Semites. [...]”

 

“[...] Elections which we are convinced that this government is attempting to make fair and free, especially in contrast to the mayhem we see in the East, where pro-Russian actors are creating havoc. We have found some overwhelming consensus among the Jewish community leaders and individuals we spoke to. First, there is no fear of anti-Semitism that is coming from this interim government. Secondly, overwhelming consensus that there is... Are incidents of anti-Semitism, but they fall into two categories. Number one: anti-Semitism associated with pro-Russian actors in the East and South,” Ira Forman stressed.

He reminded the gathering of the anti-Semitic incident recorded near the Donetsk synagogue during the so-called “referendum” on the self-regulation of Donetsk region.

“[...]But where people in the Jewish community overwhelmingly believe it is likely they were perpetrated by pro-Russian actors and believe they were not associated with actors who are associated with the interim government nor even with nationalist movements in Ukraine.”

This refers to the incident on April 15, 2013, when the representatives of the Jewish community were celebrating Pesach. A group of unidentified persons drove up to the Donetsk synagogue and started handing out insulting and illicit leaflets to those who came out of the synagogue.

Ira Forman stated that it is “wrong and extremely dangerous” to use anti-Semitism as a political tool that might disrupt the process of preparation for the election process and the presidential elections that will take place on May 25 in Ukraine.

“Pro-Russian and Russian government claims that anti-Semitism infects thisinterim goverment are simply false and misinformation. [...] They’re especially active before the elections. When we are talking about the propaganda and disinformation aimed at the central government, we somehow come up against the facts: that anti-Semitic manifestations are recorded in the east of Ukraine,” Ira Forman said.

Ira Forman also noted that the his office under the aegis of the United States State Department is developing a direction the goal of which is to strengthen civil society around the world. The USA Special Envoy said that he’d like to see a sturdy and solid “carcass” in Russian civil society and stressed that lately there has been an uptake in anti-Semitic incidents in the first four months of 2014.

Ira Forman’s speech: