UKRAINE
Ukrainian state agency adds Ukrainian Jewish leader to list of pro-Russia ‘traitors’ Cnaan Liphshiz
Ukrainian refugee with Tidewater ties uses words to emote fear, hope, and gratitude
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tella Kremen emigrated from Ukraine in 1994 to Tidewater with her husband, two boys, and her parents. Her children attended Hebrew Academy of Tidewater. Kremen’s brother stayed behind in Ukraine. Kremen shares the following Instagram post from her niece, Karyna who 33 years old and was living in Ukraine on February 24.
(JTA) — Ukraine’s government has placed Vadim Rabinovich, a lawmaker and Jewish community leader, on a list of 111 people it called traitors in the war with Russia. “I am a Ukrainian mother of two daughters, 3 and 7 years old, who had to The list was published this month by Rukh Chesno, escape from Kyviv, the capital of Ukraine on February 24, on the first day of a nongovernmental organization dedicated to promotthe war when Russia began to bombard my city and my country hard, because I ing honest governance, and Ukraine’s National Agency would not be able to protect them myself before the bombs, because I don’t want for the Prevention of Corruption. It includes bureautheir psyche to be from sirens 6 times a day and I don’t want their childhood crats, journalists, and mayors accused of collaborating passed in bomb shelters without schools and kindergartens. with Russia, which invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. The “Together with my husband’s sister and her son (4 years old), we traveled government agency was a partner in compiling the for 15 hours in a cold evacuation train to Lviv. From there, we got to Poland list, according to TSN, a leading television station. and now we live in a small Polish village in a refugee camp and pray every day Rabinovich was elected in 2019 to the Verkhovna that the war ends, that our relatives, husbands, mothers and fathers remained Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, and headed a small oppoalive and intact. sition party whose critics say is pro-Russian. A former “We will be grateful for any help and support.” billionaire, he entered politics in 2014. Rukh Chesno’s website called Rabinovich a “collaborator, pro-Russian politician,” adding that he has “been abroad since the beginning of the war” and on Feb. 14 wrote on Facebook that the war had begun “and the West Ukraine began it.” In 1997 he founded the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress, which has been one of the main local Jewish groups active in the country. He also heads the European Jewish Parliament, a largely inactive Jewish umbrella group founded in 2012. Last year, Rabinovich launched a failed attempt at impeaching President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is also Jewish, over the government’s shuttering of three television stations deemed to be pro-Russian. Along with Anna German, a former politician, Rabinovich is among a handful of Jews on the list and the only leader of a Or, take $300 off select Jewish organization. stressless recliners. Many of the people on the list have not See store for details. Offers end May 31. been arrested or otherwise punished. Some are dead, including Volodymyr Struk, 57, a former mayor of the city of Kreminna, who last month was kidnapped and shot dead, possibly for allegations of collaboration. Rabinovich did not immediately reply Largest local selection of contemporary furniture to a request for comment by JTA to his 301 West 21st Street, Norfolk | 757.623.3100 | decorumfurniture.com inclusion on the list of alleged traitors.
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jewishnewsva.org | April 25, 2022 | JEWISH NEWS | 7
