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World Jewish News
Ukrainian party accuses Israeli ambassador of ‘interference’
13.05.2009
A local political party has accused Israel's ambassador to Ukraine of insulting the country after appearing on a TV talk show to discuss xenophobia.
The Rovno Regional Department of Ukraine People's Party sent a petition to the president of Ukraine, Ukrainian government officials, the prosecutor general and the chief of the Ukrainian Secret Service or SBU, demanding that Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Zina Kalay Klaytman be declared a persona non-grata for interference in Ukraine's internal affairs, and to bring charges against the anchor of the Shuster Live show and owners of the TV channel, TRK Ukraine.
Klaytman; the show's presenter Savik Shuster; and several lawmakers, including Evgeny Chervonenko, first deputy major of Kiev and a Ukrainian Jewish leader; took part at the TV show on April 24, devoted to the issue of xenophobia and racism in Ukraine. Now they have become the target of a xenophobic and anti-Israel campaign launched by the regional Ukraine People's Party.
Party leaders lambasted the anchor and lawmakers who, they say, "deliberately strain" the level of xenophobia and anti-Semitism in Ukraine, and demanded the prosecutor general bring a criminal suit case against them "for the anti-state activities."
"An apogee of the cynical use of Ukrainian TV air waves by Mossad and FSB secret services appeared on the Savik Shuster TV show program 'Shuster Live,' during which the issue of non-existent race intolerance, xenophobia and anti-Semitism in Ukraine were deliberately strained. During the live show Ukrainian patriots were presented as fascists and haters of mankind," the party's May 12 statement read.
"During the 'Shuster Live' live show on the TV channel TRK Ukraine on April 24 persons of Jewish nationality cynically outraged our state and debased Ukrainians," the statement continued.
The Ukraine people's party led by Yury Kostenko, currently holds six seats in Ukrainian parliament.
Ukrainian Jewish lawmaker Aleksandr Feldman, leader of the Ukrainian Jewish Committee, slammed the party's statement.
"It's a pity, but there is xenophobia, anti-Semitism and neo-Nazism in Ukraine, and political figures, who protect such phenomenon at different levels of power," the lawmaker's press service reported Wednesday.
"Such statements discredit the Ukrainian nation in world public opinion rather than any 'foreign secret services,'" according to Feldman.
Feldman urged President Victor Yuschenko to take a public position on the issue. In April, Feldman asked Yuschenko in open letter to pay attention to the rapid growth of fascism in Ukrainian society.
Источник: JTA
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