.jpg)
Rabbi Marc SchneierPresident, Foundation for Ethnic Understanding Don't Forget the Welfare of the Jewish and Muslim Minorities
Back in May 2011, the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, for which I serve as president, co-sponsored an international conference in Kiev together with the Ukrainian Jewish Committee to fight against anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in Ukraine and around the world. During the conference, I met many wonderful Jewish and Muslim Ukrainians -- many of the latter from the Crimean Tatar community -- all of whom told me that despite long and bitter histories of anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim violence in that country, they were committed to remaining in Ukraine and forging interfaith coalitions together with leaders of the majority Christian churches dedicated to building a pluralistic and democratic Ukraine.The horrifying explosion of violence in Kiev and around Ukraine this week, that has apparently left as many 100 people dead and many more wounded, has obviously put that noble dream at grave risk. There is growing concern that the very territorial integrity of the country could be endangered -- with the country potentially fracturing into a pro-European western Ukraine and a pro-Russian eastern Ukraine, unless both the government of President Viktor Yanukovych and the opposition coalition manage to pull back from the brink. Amidst the specter of chaotic civil war, there is plenty or reason for concern for the well-being of Ukraine's approximately 70,000 Jews and 500,000 Muslims, the majority of whom are Crimean Tatars.If this nightmare scenario is to be avoided, President Yanukovych must immediately order security forces to cease firing live ammunition at protestors and withdraw those forces from the center of Kiev. Both the government and opposition coalition must foreswear the use of violence and commence serious negotiations for a peaceful solution to the conflict. Whatever the shape of the eventual resolution of the political crisis, the supreme moral imperative of the moment is the preservation of human life.Ukrainians must be vigilant to prevent any recurrence of an age-old propensity to scapegoat the Jews as the source of their misfortunes. Concern on this score cannot be lightly dismissed given that last month there were attacks on two yeshiva students who were beaten by anti-Semitic thugs while leaving synagogues in Kiev. Ukrainian Jewish leaders have told us that while anti-Semitism has so far not played a pronounced role in the conflict between the Ukrainian government and the opposition coalition, they are deeply concerned about the potential for attacks on Jews if law and order break down and Ukraine descends deeper into chaos. Although Jews have participated prominently in the pro-democracy and pro-European demonstrations on Maidan Square, one cannot help, but look with disquiet on the fact that one of the three main opposition parties, Svoboda (Liberty), has a history of anti-Semitic rhetoric.Given the tragic history of massive anti-Jewish violence in Ukraine, going back to the Khemelnytsky pogroms during the 17th Century, in which more than 100,000 Jews were murdered, both the government and opposition coalition have a special responsibility to be vigilant in preventing the outbreak of anti-Jewish violence in the coming hours and days.We are also concerned about the worrying prospect of a possible outbreak of violence against the Crimean Tatars, a Muslim community that was exiled to Siberia by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin during World War II, and which returned to their homeland of Crimea, an autonomous republic within Ukraine, during the 1990s. There are about300,000 Tatars in Crimea today -- about 12.5 percent of the total population.In Crimea, the Jewish and Crimean Tatar communities have worked closely with FFEU in recent years in standing together against Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. There have been a rash of such incidents in recent years, including desecrations of mosques and synagogues, largely perpetrated by ethnic Russian extremists. According to Crimean Tatar leaders, in recent days, prominent ethnic Russian politicians in Crimea have openly advocated that Crimea consider seceding from Ukraine and ask to be annexed by Russia. When Crimean Tatar leader Refat Churbatov took to the floor of the Crimean Parliament earlier this week to call for a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Kiev and maintenance of the unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine, he was met with a deafening cascade of boos and stamping of feet by members of Parliament.The Crimean Tatars suffered greatly after the Khanate of Crimea was absorbed by the Russian Empire and under the subsequent Soviet regime, and are fearful of renewed persecution if Crimea reverts to Russia. I call upon the leaders of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea to respect the human and civil rights of both the Jews and Muslims of Crimea and do everything to lessen the possibility of violence against the Crimean Tatar minority, who have charted a course of political moderation and want only to live peacefully in their ancestral land.