ed note–keep in mind as you read this that the story below is 7 years old.
jpost
Israel should take a side in the Ukraine-Russia conflict, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said in his address to the Knesset Wednesday.
‘When evil wins in one place, it will try to continue to another,’ Poroshenko warned. ‘We need to act in cooperation and Israeli politicians should make their stance toward Ukraine very clear.’
Poroshenko said that in the last 21 months, 9,000 Ukrainians were victims of ‘Russian-funded terror’ and warned that the 17,000 Jews in Crimea may find themselves in danger.
‘The occupiers have started encouraging anti-Semitism,’ he stated.
Poroshenko compared Ukraine to Israel, saying his country is ‘a stronghold of democracy in Eastern Europe, just like Israel is a stronghold of democracy in the Middle East.’
‘We are a free country and fighting against the Russian aggression and defending our democratic government. We want to decide our future on our own,’ he added.
Poroshenko also warned against Russia’s involvement in Syria, accusing Moscow of killing innocent civilians, and hinting that Russian weapons can fall into the hands of those who seek to harm Israel.
‘Russia supplied systems to Syria that can change the balance of power in the region,’ he said.
The Ukrainian President also talked about Jewish history in his country – the good and the bad.
Poroshenko apologized for the part Ukrainians took in the Holocaust.
‘We must remember the negative events in history, in which collaborators helped the Nazis with the Final Solution. When Ukraine was established in 1991, we asked for forgiveness, and I am doing it now, in the Knesset, before the children and grandchildren of the victims of the Holocaust…I am doing it before all citizens of Israel,’ he said.
He called the massacre in Babi Yar, in which the Nazis killed over 100,000 Jews, ‘a shared wound that has not yet healed.’
Poroshenko said he ordered an official memorial ceremony to take place next year on the 75th anniversary of the massacre, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would take part in it.
‘The tragic events of the past require us to educate our children on the principles of human dignity, tolerance and freedom. That is what we are fighting for in Ukraine,’ he said.
After a wave of protests and street battles swept pro-Russian president Victor Yanukovich from power in early 2014, Moscow has vociferously accused the post-revolutionary government of fascism and anti-Semitism, and Kiev has made the same claim of the pro-Russian forces in Crimea.
Netanyahu expressed hope that ‘an appropriate solution’ will be found for Ukraine’s conflict with Russia.
The prime minister told Poroshenko he appreciates his efforts to combat anti-Semitism.
‘We cannot forget the times when we were persecuted and our blood was shed, including in Ukraine,’ the prime minister stated, mentioning the joint ceremony in Babi Yar.
Both Netanyahu and opposition leader Isaac Herzog (Zionist Union) discussed Jewish history in Ukraine, mentioning great writers, like Shalom Aleichem, national poet Haim Nachman Bialik, Shaul Tshernichovsky, and Likud ideological forebear Ze’ev Jabotinsky; rabbis, like Rabbi Nachman of Breslov and Rabbis Menachem Mendel Schneerson; and Israeli leaders, like former prime ministers Moshe Sharet and Golda Meir, all of whom were born in Ukraine.
‘The world is a narrow bridge,’ Herzog said, quoting Rabbi Nachman of Breslov. ‘You and your nation are on a narrow bridge, at the height of a territorial conflict and an impressive effort to rehabilitate your democracy.
Herzog praised Poroshenko for working to improve Ukraine’s economy and bring stability.
Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, who was born in what is now Ukraine, shared something that he and Poroshenko had in common.
‘I heard that when you were young, after you finished your studies, you tried to open a small school for languages, and the KGB closed it,’ Edelstein said. ‘When I was young, I tried to teach Hebrew, including in Ukraine, except in my case, the KGB did not think stopping my activities was enough and they sent me far away from there.’
Edelstein told Poroshenko that he hopes the conflict in his country will come to an end soon.
The Ukriane is run by ,and installed by the International Jews…get that !
Not ,” Nazis ,Fascist EU” , or anyone but !
Anyone saying otherwise is either a fool or liar.
What? No mention of the 7,000,000 Ukrainians killed by the Yiddish communists in 1932/3? What a short memory
Do let’s give Poroshenko credit when he deserves it! He spoke the truth when he said this:
“Poroshenko compared Ukraine to Israel, saying his country is “a stronghold of democracy in Eastern Europe, just like Israel is a stronghold of democracy in the Middle East.”
YES! Not only “just like Israel is a stronghold of democracy in the Middle East” but in fact EXACTLY in the same way Israel is a stronhold of democracy.”
If I were his speechwriter I’d improve on the clarity of his statements.
Look at those photos! The flower of Ostjuden (fleurs du mal…)! I can still read the Russian alphabet so I will list the names under the photos:
Valtzman (Poroshenko), Bakal, Kogan, Kapitelman, Etinsohn, Groisman, Kernes, Frotman, Aposh, Farion, Kolomoyski, Bogoliubov, Firtash, Pinchuk.
I s’pose it would be narrow-minded bigotry to note that they have anything else in common but the greed and corruption that erodes the soul of ANY individual irrespective of the tribe he belongs to so I will not note anything of the kind.
What a bunch hooked noses i see scam crime