XP: Jews being told to register in Ukraine

[EllieArroway]

Damn. I hope this is not legit.

[Deleted]

I'm searching for confirmation. Nothing about it one way or the other here, which bills itself as the Snopes or the Ukraine crisis: www.stopfake.org/en/

[Deleted]

Kerry does seem to find the reports credible.

m.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/apr/17/jews-being-told-register-ukrainian-city-john-kerry/

Here's video. He doesn't call it "reports," he states it as fact.

www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ukraine-crisis/kerry-calls-anti-semitism-allegations-ukraine-grotesque-n83291

However, I don't get the impression that the leaflets have been confirmed to have been issued by a recognized official government body. Kerry says all parties in the des-escalation talks condemned these actions.

I hope it is some extremist group with no actual authority. Even so, it is still SCARY AS FUCK.

[epphd]

But from the article, this is what I'm focusing on:

Michael Salberg, director of the international affairs at the New York City-based Anti-Defamation League, said it's unclear whether the leaflets were issued by the pro-Russian leadership or a splinter group operating within the pro-Russian camp.

But the Russian side has used the specter of anti-Semitism in a cynical manner since anti-government protests began in Kiev that resulted in the ousting of Ukraine's pro-Russian former president Viktor Yanukovych. Russia and its allies in Ukraine issued multiple stories about the the threat posed to Jews by Ukraine's new pro-Western government in Kiev, Salberg said.

Those stories were based in part on ultra-nationalists who joined the Maidan protests, and the inclusion of the ultra-nationalist Svoboda party in Ukraine's new interim government. But the threat turned out to be false, he said.

Svoboda's leadership needs to be monitored, but so far it has refrained from anti-Semitic statements since joining the government, he said. And the prevalence of anti-Semitic acts has not changed since before the Maidan protests, according to the ADL and the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, which monitors human rights in Ukraine.

Distributing such leaflets is a recruitment tool to appeal to the xenophobic fears of the majority, "to enlist them to your cause and focus on a common enemy, the Jews," Salberg said.

And by targeting Donetsk's Jews, they also send a message to all the region's residents, Salberg said.

"The message is a message to all the people that is we're going to exert our power over you," he said. "Jews are the default scapegoat throughout history for despots to send a message to the general public: Don't step out of line."

Basically it seems like everyone has an interest in casting the other as terrifyingly anti-Semitic. At least that's how I hope this all plays out - as an awful, cynical, but baseless propaganda technique.

ETA: or ditto mx.

[2curlydogs]

Apr 17, 2014 13:53:15 GMT -5 epphd said:

But from the article, this is what I'm focusing on:

Michael Salberg, director of the international affairs at the New York City-based Anti-Defamation League, said it's unclear whether the leaflets were issued by the pro-Russian leadership or a splinter group operating within the pro-Russian camp.

But the Russian side has used the specter of anti-Semitism in a cynical manner since anti-government protests began in Kiev that resulted in the ousting of Ukraine's pro-Russian former president Viktor Yanukovych. Russia and its allies in Ukraine issued multiple stories about the the threat posed to Jews by Ukraine's new pro-Western government in Kiev, Salberg said.

Those stories were based in part on ultra-nationalists who joined the Maidan protests, and the inclusion of the ultra-nationalist Svoboda party in Ukraine's new interim government. But the threat turned out to be false, he said.

Svoboda's leadership needs to be monitored, but so far it has refrained from anti-Semitic statements since joining the government, he said. And the prevalence of anti-Semitic acts has not changed since before the Maidan protests, according to the ADL and the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, which monitors human rights in Ukraine.

Distributing such leaflets is a recruitment tool to appeal to the xenophobic fears of the majority, "to enlist them to your cause and focus on a common enemy, the Jews," Salberg said.

And by targeting Donetsk's Jews, they also send a message to all the region's residents, Salberg said.

"The message is a message to all the people that is we're going to exert our power over you," he said. "Jews are the default scapegoat throughout history for despots to send a message to the general public: Don't step out of line."

Basically it seems like everyone has an interest in casting the other as terrifyingly anti-Semitic. At least that's how I hope this all plays out - as an awful, cynical, but baseless propaganda technique.

ETA: or ditto mx.

I dunno.. I mean, I get what you're saying. But there's antisemitism and then there's raising the specter of the Nuremberg Laws and everything that followed....

[notsocreepylurker]

I am speechless. I mean, I cannot formulate a thought. Those poor people. Especially during Passover. My god, I just can't.

[notsocreepylurker]

I mean, I am sure that NO Jewish person has forgotten the Holocaust and to even THINK that they might have to register themselves/their belongings I mean, I don't have words for how they might be feeling.

[copzpartdeux]

I am going to need someone to confirm this because my bomb shelter needs swept out.

THE FUCK??

[msmerymac]

Just to confirm the antisemitism in Russia, I just talked to someone whose parents left the Ukraine around 1980. Their old USSR passports do, indeed, include their religious affiliation (which happened to be Jewish in their case). Hmm.

[anastasia517]

I hope this is not real. This can not fucking happen again.

Although, it certainly does put a new twist on the "OMG invasion, Hitler!" stuff that people were saying earlier.

[Deleted]

Time is calling it "a hoax or rude extortion scheme."

time.com/67272/ukraine-jew-register-donetsk/

[NewOrleans]

www.nytimes.com/2014/04/18/world/europe/efforts-to-register-jews-in-ukraine-are-denounced-and-denied.html?hpw&rref=world&_r=0