On December 8-9, the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress General Council Chairman Josef Zisels participated in a consultation for OSCE experts on the safety of Jewish communities. The meeting was organized by the Berlin office of the American Jewish Committee. Unsurprisingly, much attention was given to the events in Ukraine. There was a separate meeting on December 9 on the Ukrainian protests and the risks for Jewish communities connected with these protests.

 

Josef Zisels had two reports in which he gave a detailed description of the causes for these mass protests, their peaceful character, the inadequately violent response of the police and the special services, manifestations of anti-Semitism in Ukraine in recent years, the activity of radical right groups and their difference from European radical right groups, and provocations of the government intended to destabilize the situation.

From the three threat factors for Jewish communities and objects -- spontaneous acts of violence, radical right group activity, and provocations from the government -- Josef Zisels believes the last ones to be the most potentially harmful.