Lithuanian Jewish leaders called on the state to prosecute those who propagate racial and ethnic hatred.
The Conference of the Lithuanian Jewish Community, which represented 25 organizations, expressed deep concern about the rise in anti-Semitism and xenophobia in the country.
“As loyal citizens of the Republic of Lithuania who have always supported Lithuania’s independence and Euro-Atlantic integration processes, we feel the responsibility to bring Lithuania’s attention to the fact that anti-Semitism, discrimination and any other forms of intolerance hurt a country’s reputation,” it said in a statement May 18.
The conference also expressed concern about attempts to inject discriminatory elements into the new draft citizenship law, saying it would guarantee inequality of citizens because of their ethnicity and violate the republic’s Constitution.
It decried Lithuania’s attempt to prosecute Holocaust researcher and Israeli army general Yitzhak Arad while ignoring Nazi collaborators living within its borders.
Lithunanian Jewry also accused the state of delaying the restitution of Jewish community property and decried the sanctioned construction on the site of the Snipskes Jewish cemetery.
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