The media coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war, and the battle for world opinion, along with the ratings during the events of the fighting, have yet to bring up another war happening there – the war against anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism has reared its head, as well as trivialization of the Holocaust, which has become a daily occurrence in the post-Soviet space.
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Russian and Ukrainian media outlets are flooded with anti-Semitic comments that pervert historical facts. These comments are heard on both sides of the border, but share a message – that the Jews are to blame.
Officials such as Mikhailo Kolavchuk, a former member of the Kyiv city council, who disseminates anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that preaches that Jews are responsible for setting out mines on the Zatoka beach, which killed two people last week.
Kovalchuk continues to stress that "the Zionists" are responsible for the situation in Ukraine, for the casualties, and are attempting to establish a "new world order" – namely, occupying Ukraine and murdering all the Ukrainians. Kovalchuk also explains that "pure Jewish stupidity… the stinking Zionists went crazy and ruined all our beaches."
The British news site Jewish News has previously brought international attention to the issue and has called on lawmakers to respond to Kovalchuk's remarks, but there has been no official response.
In Russia, where recent World Zionist Organization reports pointed to a drop in anti-Semitism in recent years, there has been a spike in the number of anti-Semitic incidents and comments. Numbers from the WZO's Department for Combating Anti-Semitism and Enhancing Resilience, reported here for the first time, show that the number of these incidents and comments have doubled in the past four months in comparison to the four months that preceded them, mainly in the media. For example, the wife of a famous Jewish singer, who was interviewed on a popular TV program, discussed how she lived with "a little Jew, whose greed always made him try to save money and avoid spending."
Another example, just as scandalous: Russia's national broadcaster compared the president of Ukraine and his wife to Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun, under the branding, "A series of photos comparing Zelenskyy and Hitler," along with a military analyst calling for "all the Ukrainians to be imprisoned in a concentration camp."
Human history has taught us that war and economic crises serve as fertile ground for the revival of anti-Semitism.
The Russo-Ukraine war has created a global economic crisis, led to growing incitement through the use of radical ideologies that justify violence against one's enemies – primarily the Jews – who both sides claim are responsible for all the ills of the world.
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