Ukrainian law enforcement officers are afraid of radicals, and therefore do not want to respond to their anti-Semitic antics and calls.
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This was stated in an interview with the Kyiv online publication “Apostrophe” by former Maidan activist, Israeli military instructor Zvi Arieli, who took part in the training of Ukrainian security forces during the so-called ATO.
He complained that Ukrainian nationalists are calling for “throwing down the Jews,” but law enforcement agencies are not taking any measures in this regard, limiting themselves to replies to relevant statements.
According to Arieli, in Ukraine “two years ago the infection of xenophobia and anti-Semitism again began to raise its head and gain momentum.”
“In 2013-2014, when Jews were beaten in Kyiv, there was definitely a Russian trace there. At that time I was part of the Jewish self-defense... Then all this did not go away. Maidan and the overwhelming majority of Ukrainian society categorically did not support anti-Semitic ideology and practice. And now it’s going well. And the authorities are not doing enough to stop it,” said the publication’s interlocutor.
He argues that for law enforcement, complaints about incitement are just an annoyance that interferes with their work.
“And they, it seems to me, are afraid of angering the nationalists. Because these are often organized power groups. The same “Svoboda” members, in theory, can easily get together, go and set fire to some police station. That’s why law enforcement officers don’t want to comply with the requirements of the law,” Arieli laments.