Head of the Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities of Ukraine Joseph Zisels: The Government is Interested in Cross-National and Cross-Cultural Peace

Kyiv, March, 5th, 2014 – “During the last three months, we saw an active war effort in the media space around ethnic minorities – Jews, Crimean Tartars, Poles, Hungarians, and Russian,” said Joseph Zisels, a leader of the Jewish community in Ukraine.

“The former government and pro-Russian organizations alike needed to show that the people trying to win the power are fascists and radical nationalists. This was supposed to arouse hatred, to provoke aggression, and, eventually, to declare the emergency state and cancel Presidential elections altogether,” Mr. Zisels said.

Mr. Zisels said he believes the key risk lies in the likely provocations by Russian organizations that might be interested in igniting a conflict around the Jewish issue.

At the same time, he stated that the current Ukrainian government is interested in the cross-national and cross-cultural peace. “We work with the government and respective government bodies to minimize risks and outcomes of the possible provocations around ethnic and cultural minorities,” Zisels said.

Mr. Zisels is a former dissident, a human rights activist, Head of the Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities of Ukraine, Head of the General Council of the Eurasian Jewish Congress.