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Backlash over Ukrainian president's award for antisemite

February 2, 2017 15:39
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2 min read

Last week, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko shocked the Jewish community by honouring a man who has falsely accused Jews of perpetrating the worst crimes of the Soviet state.

Mr Poroshenko’s office announced it was awarding author Vasyl Kvasnovsky the prestigious Order of Freedom. Mr Kvasnovsky has blamed the Jews for Soviet atrocities during the Second World War and for mass-famines engineered by the Soviet Union during the 1930s. In his book, From Gloom to Light: Muscovite-Kikes Syndrome of the Holocaust of Ukraine, he quoted the fabricated antisemitic text The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

In the past, the Order of Freedom has been presented to the philanthropist George Soros and the American senator and Vietnam War hero John McCain.

Rabbi Moshe Azman, who serves the Jewish community in Kiev, wrote to Mr Poroshenko declaring his decision to award the honour to Mr Kvasnovsky an “international scandal which casts a black shadow of antisemitism and xenophobia on Ukraine”. The announcement of the award was later amended but it remains unclear whether it was withdrawn or Mr Kvasnovsky’s name merely removed from the president’s website.