Ukraine is the second country in the world where Jews were both President and Prime Minister at the same time. This was stated on June 1 by the press secretary of the Jewish community of Kyiv Leonid Barats. He supported the words of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that there is no anti-Semitism in Ukraine.
This is reported by the media "Gordon" that cited AP News.
"Previously, Ukraine had a rather bad reputation because of the sad pages of history. However, compared to the Soviet Union, the situation has really changed. Then people were forced to hide it, there were certain quotas for admission to universities. Now all nations and nationalities in Ukraine live comfortably. This was especially felt after 2014 when a number of Jews generally began to attribute themselves to Ukrainian nationalists, which previously could not even be imagined," Barats said.
He noted that in Ukraine, three Jewish holidays are recognized as national by presidential decree, so that religious Jewish Ukrainians can get a well-deserved paid day off on this day.
"Ukrainians are a very tolerant nation. At the same time, in Europe, unfortunately, we saw an attack on a synagogue in Vienna, and in France – huge anti-Semitic and anti-Israel marches of thousands. In Poland, regular attacks occur and the word "Jew" is still part of everyday life. Recently, they even tied a stuffed Jew to a car and dragged him along the road. In Ukraine, fortunately, this is much less," Barats said.
In an interview published on May 31 by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Zelensky stated he is the answer to the question about anti-Semitism in Ukraine. According to him, this phenomenon in the country is now "at the lowest level."