Israeli ambassador to Ukraine Joel Lyon called the Hanukkah incident in Kyiv an act of anti-Semitism and called on the Ukrainian authorities to respond to such actions.
The Diplomat wrote about this on his Twitter, Gazeta.ua reports.
"I strongly condemn the act of anti-Semitism that took place on December 10 in Kyiv. I call on Ukrainian officials to join my condemnation and quickly bring this person to justice," the ambassador wrote.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba responded to this call.
"I strongly condemn the audacious attack on Jewish Hanukkah on Thursday in Kyiv. I welcome the quick response of law enforcement officers who identified the attacker. The case has already been brought to court, and I am convinced that justice will be achieved. There is no place for anti-Semitism in Ukraine," Kuleba said.
In response, the Israeli diplomat thanked his colleague.
On December 10, a man overturned one of the religious symbols of the Jewish community — Hanukkiah on Kontraktova Square in Kyiv.
The vandal turned out to be a 36-year-old local resident Andriy Rachok, who posted a video of his act on his Facebook page. In it, he said that he shows an example of "how to deal with strangers who are engaged in the usurpation of power, occupation of territories, genocide," overthrew Hanukkah, and then said: "Ukrainians are strong, grave to the Jews."
Law enforcement officers identified the offender. He was informed of suspicion of committing a crime under Part 1 of Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of equal rights of citizens depending on their race, nationality, religious beliefs, disability and other grounds).