A synagogue ... desecrated with graffiti of a swastika and a noose in L'viv, Ukraine in 2006. J. Unrau/Creative Commons
KIEV, Ukraine (JTA) -- A spate of anti-Semitic attacks in Ukraine and the government’s lack of a strong response is stoking anxiety among Ukraine’s Jews and European Jewish communal leaders.In the most recent incident, a Chabad house in the city of Uzhgorod was set ablaze Oct. 5.
In late September, three consecutive days saw separate attacks on Jews in the cities of Zhitomir, Sevastopol and Cherkassy.
Jews have been beaten, communal property has been desecrated, neo-Nazis have been allowed to march in Kiev and on Sunday, the government awarded a prestigious medal posthumously to a wartime Ukrainian nationalist who fought alongside the Nazis, Gen. Roman Shukhevich.
Jewish community leaders are blaming the government.
You would think Jews would have stopped relying on a/any government to protect them... save perhaps Israel. And even then, blind faith is not recommended.
And speaking of Israeli government, here's a news item that might be missing from your local paper. Courtesy of JTA.
Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert's disclosure that he has prostate cancer improved his approval ratings.A poll commissioned by newspaper Yediot Achronot after Olmert's announcement on Monday found that 41 percent of Israelis "appreciate" his performance as prime minister, up from 35 percent last month.
Olmert, whose popularity plummeted after last year's Lebanon war and amid ongoing corruption allegations, also earned high marks in the survey for his "bravery" in coming forward, an act that 61 percent of respondents said they found moving.
Eighty-seven percent of respondents agreed with Olmert's decision to stay in office. But when asked who among Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu is most fit to be prime minister, 14 percent said Olmert, 17 percent said Barak and 35 percent said Netanyahu.
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