WE PRESENT A DOSSIER ON THIS ISSUE—
Underhanded operations is what the CIA specializes in so we should not be too surprised if, losing ground in Eastern Ukraine, it has apparently decided to play one of the dirtiest cards in its repertory, accusing Donetsk separatists of persecuting Jews.
If so, and logic points in that direction, this was a particularly cynical move by the agency, calculated to play big in the US where antisemitism is the third rail in American politics. The obvious goal was to inflame Jewish-American opinion, and the millions of Christian fundamentalist zealots who, for twisted reasons of their own, profess to be fierce supporters of Israel. Fortunately, the operation was so clumsily mounted that it is already falling apart at the seams (see report by the Guardian UK), but don’t trust the American media to investigate the truth too energetically. As it is, the CBS affiliate in New York was one of the first to break the news, but even that outlet hedged its bets again almost certain embarrassment by putting in a weak disclaimer. So far, there has been no real followup and no rectification.
The alarmistic news as first distributed by CBS New York (Channel 2). The transcript of the report is found immediately below.
Flyers Distributed In Troubled Eastern Ukrainian City Call On Jews To Register (CBS New York)
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – As Jews across the Tri-State area are celebrating Passover, a chilling new development is taking place in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, which has recently been caught up in awave
of pro-Russian turmoil.
Flyers, purportedly distributed by pro-Russian rebels, are demanding Jews register with the “Nationalities Commissioner” and pay $50 or lose their citizenship and face deportation, according to a translation provided by the National Conference Supporting Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States & Eurasia (NCSJ).
It sent a chill around the world, reminiscent of a dark time from the last century.
“It is a stark example of anti-Semitism and a way of intimidating the Jewish community,” Michael Salberg with the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith said.
Secretary of State John Kerry blasted the flyers, saying their distribution is “grotesque.”
According to the NCSJ, the leaflets read:
Dear citizens of Jewish nationality! Due to the fact that leaders of the Jewish Community of Ukraine support the Bandera junta in Kiev and are hostile to the Orthodox Donetsk Republic and its citizens, the main headquarters of the Donetsk Republic declares the following:
• Every citizen of Jewish nationality older than 16 years, residing in the territory of a sovereign Donetsk Republic has to go to Donetsk Regional Administrator to see the Nationalities Commissioner, Office 514, for registration. The registration fee is $50.
• Persons should have with them with cash in the amount of $50 for registration, a passport to mark their religion, and documents of family members, as well as ownership documents for their properties and vehicles.
• In case of failure to register, the perpetrators will lose their citizenship and will be deported outside the republic, with their property confiscated.
The flyers were signed by the leader of Donetsk’s pro-Russian separatists, the NCSJ said.
The separatists denied they distributed the flyers and called them a provocation, the Jerusalem Post reported, citing news website tvrain.ru.
“In the year 2014, after all of the miles traveled and all of the journey of history, this is not just intolerable; it’s grotesque,” said Kerry. “It is beyond unacceptable, and any of the people who engage in these kinds of activities – from whatever party or whatever ideology or whatever place they crawl out of – there is no place for that.”
New Yorkers said registration of Jews for any reason touches a raw nerve.
“I can’t imagine that that would really happen because that would just be a setback, a throwback of history that cannot be repeated,” Upper West Sider Karn Fittenhoff said.
A rabbi in Donetsk said he assuring the world that no one in his community is registering with anyone.
In a news conference Thursday afternoon, President Obama said he’s hopeful, but also skeptical Russia will keep to an agreement with Ukraine to end the violence.
Talks to end the crisis come even as masked men lobbed molotov cocktails overnight trying to take a Ukrainian National Guard base. Blood was spilled when Ukrainian soldiers fought back, killing three and wounding 13.
Diplomats from the U.S., Russia, Ukraine and the European Union now say that from this point forward, the protests should stop, illegally seized buildings returned and international monitors allowed in to supervise the deal.
Russian president Vladamir Putin continues to deny any involvement in the Ukraine unrest and President Obama Thursday afternoon said he’s waiting to see if Putin’s actions match up with his rhetoric.
“My hope is that we actually do see follow through over the next several days. But I don’t think given past performance that we can count on that,” President Obama said.
For additional coverage of the situation in Ukraine, including recent diplomatic moves, head to our colleagues at CBS News.com.
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Take 2: The way this news should have been reported.
Antisemitic flyer ‘by Donetsk People’s Republic’ in Ukraine a hoax
City’s chief rabbi states pamphlet is fake, claiming it is meant to discredit pro-Russian protesters or Jewish community
The barricades outside the Donetsk regional administration building are plastered with anti-fascist posters. Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images
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The barricades that mark the entrance to the “Donetsk People’s Republic” are plastered with anti-fascist posters, including an American flag with a swastika in place of the stars. The pro-Russian protestors who have set up their own government in the occupied administration building see the new Kiev regime as dominated by intolerant Ukrainian nationalists, which is why it was more than a little ironic when an antisemitic flyer appeared on Wednesday ordering Jews to register with these new authorities.
US secretary of state John Kerry soon waded into the media storm over the piece of paper, describing it as “grotesque” and “beyond unacceptable”. But on Friday the chairman of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the city’s chief rabbi both stated that the flyer was a fake meant to discredit the so-called republic or the Jewish community.
The hoax has nonetheless contributed to the tense, divisive atmosphere in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian protests have ended in violence in recent weeks. A vicious information war has raged around the military operation Kiev is staging to try to take back buildings from pro-Russian demonstrators and militia, with Ukrainian media vilifying the protestors as “terrorists” and Russian media regularly calling the Kiev government a “fascist junta”.
“I think it’s someone trying to use the Jewish community in Donetsk as an instrument in this conflict. That’s why we’re upset,” the chief rabbi, Pinchas Vishedski, told journalists on Friday.
According to Jewish community members at Donetsk’s only synagogue, which was founded 110 years ago, three masked men walked up to worshippers standing on the street after a Passover service on Wednesday and tried to distribute the flyers. They wore no insignia and quickly left when asked to identify themselves.
The flyer asks all Jewish citizens aged 16 and older to register with the “Donetsk Republic commissar for nationality affairs” and pay a $50 fee, “given that the leaders of the Jewish community of Ukraine support the Banderite junta in Kiev and are hostile to the Orthodox Donetsk Republic and its citizens.”
“Those who refuse to register will be deprived of citizenship and forcibly expelled from the republic and their property will be confiscated,” it read.
The order was allegedly issued by “people’s governor” Denis Pushilin, who denied the Donetsk People’s Republic had anything to do with the flyer at a press conference on Friday.
Prominent Jews in Ukraine have previously come out in support of the Euromaidan protests in Kiev that ousted president Viktor Yanukovich, although official Jewish leaders have stopped short of endorsing the Euromaidan movement. One of the three main leaders of the movement, Oleh Tyahnybok, head of the nationalist party Svoboda, infamously once said that a “Moscow-Jewish mafia” was ruling Ukraine.
When seen by the Guardian on Friday, several aspects of the document immediately called into question its legitimacy. Pushilin is officially the chairman of the temporary government and has avoided being labelled its governor or leader. Also, the Donetsk People’s Republic stamp shown there is poor quality and a different size than normally used, and the order is not signed.
Nonetheless, it initially provoked a strong reaction among the local Jewish community, which numbers about 15,000 people, according to Vishedski.
“We were alarmed but now things have calmed down,” said worshipper Ari Schwartz.
“For people of the older generation, seeing this paper immediately brought up associations with what happened in Nazi Germany. It worried them,” said an assistant rabbi, Ieguda Kelerman.
Although Jews sometimes encounter “everyday antisemitism” in Donetsk, he added, the government has never adopted any discriminatory policies towards them. He said Jews in Donetsk include both supporters and opponents of the new Kiev government.
Vishedski said he reported the incident to law enforcement authorities and asked them for additional protection of the synagogue and Jewish school, and he plans to raise the issue with the Russian Orthodox leader, Patriarch Filaret.
“The rise of nationalism in this country is of course not comfortable for us,” Vishedski said.
But he declined to comment on the new Kiev government or the pro-Russian building takeovers in Donetsk and nearby regions.
“Some Jewish citizens participated in Maidan, they have a right to do this because they are citizens and this is a democracy,” he said, but maintained the community is not involved in politics.
Alexander Sheremyet, a protestor occupying the administration building, said the hoax was likely to have been staged by someone associated with the Kiev government to discredit the Donetsk People’s Republic.
“I don’t think it’s someone who wants to make money. It’s probably part of the information war,” he said.
