Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) sponsored a letter on April 23 to Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan about “state-sponsored Holocaust distortion and denial taking place in Europe, particularly in Poland and Ukraine.” The letter received 57 signatures from members of Congress.
On May 10, the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA) issued its response letter to the signatories on the correspondence to Deputy Secretary Sullivan. The UCCA letter categorically condemns all forms of racism and refutes the generalization of “state-sponsored” forms of anti-Semitism in Ukraine.
The UCCA noted: The April 23 correspondence included several members of Congress who have been supportive of Ukrainian American issues in the past. The UCCA continues to engage with all congressional offices and requests communities to interact with their respective legislative representatives who signed onto the letter. Only continued engagement with congressional offices will ensure that future issues of concerns will be addressed through communication and interaction.
Following is the UCCA’s response to the lead sponsor of the congressional letter, Rep. Khanna. A personalized letter was individually disseminated to the respective signatory offices by the Ukrainian National Information Service (UNIS), the Washington public affairs bureau of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America.
For more information, readers may contact UNIS at 202-547-0018 or [email protected].
On behalf of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), the representative organization of 1.5 million Americans of Ukrainian descent, we would like to reflect upon the April 23, 2018, letter addressed to Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan on the topic of anti-Semitism in Ukraine. As an organization that represents an ethnic population in the United States, the UCCA condemns all forms of racism, ethnic hatred and anti-Semitism. Issues of anti-Semitism, like racism or ethnic hatred, are scourges that need to be addressed and eliminated through enlightened study and education.
While individual incidents of anti-Semitism exist worldwide, it neither characterizes the general civil society of Ukraine nor the position of its government. Your writing of “state-sponsored Holocaust revisionism” in Ukraine unfittingly portrays a country that has proven its steadfast and staunch dedication to the protection of all ethnic minority rights. In fact, Rabbi Yaakov Bleich, the chief rabbi in Ukraine, recently proclaimed that Ukraine “is a society in which every single minority, religious sect, and everyone can feel safe and secure… it is a society where all of the religious leaders come together, live together, respect one another and work with one another.”
Other prominent Ukrainian Jewish leaders have also been powerful voices in addressing issues of anti-Semitism in Ukraine. In an April 30 interview, Joseph Zissels, executive vice-president of the Congress of National Communities of Ukraine and co-chairman of the Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities of Ukraine, underscored that, “while living in an independent Ukraine, we have changed our perception of Ukrainian history, our historical memory has changed, and it already influences the formation of our Ukrainian identity as citizens of a political nation that is moving toward Europe. Of course, this path cannot be walked without errors or misunderstandings.”
The incidents of vandalism of Jewish sites noted in the [congressional] letter are currently under investigation by Ukrainian law enforcement agencies. There are numerous documented examples of Russian special-ops engaged in desecrations that are designed to sow social, ethnic and religious discord. In response to attempts to incite ethnic and religious discord, the Ukrainian government has appointed a special representative on anti-Semitism, xenophobia prevention and counteraction.
Matters such as the above-mentioned are used by state actors to weaken support for Ukraine. A major component of this undeclared hybrid war is to discredit and undermine U.S. assistance for those nation-states that exhibit our principles of democracy and individual freedoms. Ukraine is on the frontline on behalf of American values and international norms by defending its territorial integrity and sovereignty from Russian aggression. The country is literally in the crosshairs of Russian snipers. It is in its fourth year of fighting Russian military occupation including the illegal annexation of Crimea and invasion of and continued aggression and violence in eastern Ukraine.
From the outset of the restoration of Ukraine’s independence in 1991, and most recently since the Revolution of Dignity in 2014, the Ukrainian American community deeply appreciates robust congressional bipartisan support for Ukraine. We respectfully propose constructive dialogue with Ukraine as a more productive pathway for addressing concerns of racism, ethnic hatred and anti-Semitism. On its part, the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA) would welcome the opportunity to engage with your office on these or any other concerns.
In thanking you for your consideration of our considered views raised herein, we remain,
Respectfully yours,
Andrew J. Futey
President
Michael Sawkiw Jr.
Executive Vice-President