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Ukrainian Crisis Ignites Anti-Semitic Hatred

March 1, 2014

“We need help!” The email from Viktor, who works in the Ukrainian office of Project Rescue and Operation Ezra, was one of many we have received as the situation in the Ukraine becomes more volatile and anti-Semitism flares to new levels. In fact, we are inundated with requests from hundreds of Jewish people who suddenly realize it is not safe and they need to flee to Israel.

Just two months ago we would not have believed how quickly it could become this dangerous in the Ukraine. The crisis started with a relatively small protest by students who were unhappy with a series of repressive laws passed by the government. One of the laws, copied verbatim from a Russian example, included stigmatizing charities and human rights groups financed from abroad as “foreign agents.” President Yanukovych seems to be moving deeper into Russia’s sphere of influence. According to the Economist, “Never in its history as an independent state has Ukraine witnessed such violence.”

The protests were brutally dispersed by a special police unit. Many students were badly injured. In the aftermath, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians rebelled against the government. To date five protestors have been killed and many wounded and the conflict continues.

Jewish People Blamed

Alarmingly, the Jews are being blamed for the government’s response. Acts of violence against individual Jewish people and the community at large have escalated at a frightening rate.

Anti-Semitism has always been a problem in the Ukraine (and many other areas of the former Soviet Union). Mark Levin, director of the National Conference Supporting Jews in Russia, Ukraine, and the Baltic States and Eurasia (NCSJ) recently underlined this fact, saying, “Anti-Semitism unfortunately remains an issue in the Ukraine. It ebbs and flows.” Jim Gerrish, retired Bridges for Peace director, often referred to anti-Semitism as a low-grade fever, which becomes a burning sickness, inflaming people and nations. There is nothing low-grade about the current situation in the Ukraine for the Jewish people.

It was Shabbat (the Sabbath) and 30-year-old Dov Ber Glickman was walking home from a Shabbat meal when he was brutally attacked. His assailants stabbed him three times before his screams finally scared them off. Bleeding, he stumbled to the main synagogue and collapsed at the mikveh (ritual bath). Hillel Cohen, the chairman of the Hatzalah Ukraine emergency service, told Ynetnews that the victim had lost a lot of blood after suffering an injury to a main artery. “The frightening thing is that they arrived by car, and were apparently organized,” said Cohen. A week earlier a Jewish Israeli teacher was attacked in the same manner.

Christian Anti-Semitism Revisited

Shockingly in several regions of the Ukraine leaflets purportedly from representatives of the Orthodox churches have been distributed. These leaflets call people to take up arms and punish Jews. This excerpt gives an idea of what they are advocating:

Brothers and Sisters! If you want your families to be healthy you have to follow the commandments. Buy the Gospel in the Cathedral of Moscow patriarchy and read one chapter a day. Read the Lord’s Prayer 10 times a day. Refuse the fast food. The Yids (Jews) poison us from the planes spraying the barium and aluminum. The Yids produce vaccines with the special purpose—to bring health problems to your families. See in the Internet how the Yids kill our children, they gather our blood, then saturate the cloth with it and give [it to] you in small loaves of bread at Purim. It is forbidden to pray for them, only read the Psalms. Take up arms, the law permits this. If you don’t have money, buy the machine guns by clubbing together. The future King will give an order to the Cossacks to kill the enemies. And to you the Yid henchmen I say—go away from here to Israel. Beat the Yids—save the Russ.

This is reminiscent of the kind of rhetoric that led directly to the Holocaust. Understandably, the Jewish community is greatly alarmed.

For Such a Time as This

Jeremiah 16 talks about the return of the Jewish people from the lands of the North. The prophet says that first the fishers will come and then the hunters. We believe that our team members are among those called of God to be fishers—gently drawing the Jewish people home, as we, with your help, provide the assistance they need to get there. Intercessors have long felt that the time of the fishers was of limited duration and then would come the hunters. We don’t know how long we have, so let’s rescue those who are reaching out to us for assistance now, before it becomes impossible.

Now is the time for true Christians to stand up in an opposite spirit. Now is the time to help the Jewish people come home to Israel. Your gift can literally save lives. I encourage you to send a generous donation today.

Also, please pray for all the beautiful Christian fishers who are working with aliyah (immigration to Israel) efforts in the former Soviet Union. There is a two-fold danger to our team in the Ukraine. The physical danger has increased dramatically. Secondly, because of the new laws relating to charities, they are at risk of being viewed as an enemy of the state. Pray for the Jewish people to return to Israel before the time of the hunters increases the danger.

Blessings from Israel,
Rebecca J. Brimmer
International President and CEO