At a meeting with the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency for Israel, Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych pledged to fight anti-Semitism in his country and to stop extremists from operating in the country. Yanukovych said the fact that he forum was held in Kiev would give an impetus to Ukrainian-Israel relations.
Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky said that meetings of the Board were rarely held outside Israel but that the agency had made an exception for Ukraine given the importance of the Ukrainian Jewish community in the world. “Ukrainian Jewish community is very important in historic sense and in the sense of connection with Israel,” he noted. Sharansky spoke positively about Jewish life in Ukraine. “We are glad that Jewish schools, camps for children and many other aspects of Jewish life are being developed,” he said.
