A Ukrainian city issued a permit to build on the site of an old Jewish synagogue.
Authorities of the western Ukrainian city of Lvov will allow a private construction firm to erect a high-rise hotel on the site of an old synagogue complex that is under UNESCO protection.
Meylakh Sheykhet, the director of the Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union in Ukraine, told JTA that representatives of the local Jewish community expressed their concern in letters to city and national leaders as well as to the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine.
Local Jewish activists and Sheykhet say workers are building a hotel for the Euro-2012 soccer tournament on the site of the 16th century synagogue Ture Zahav, or Golden Rose, which was burned down by the Nazis in 1942 but is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage site. A mikveh remains on the site; another building was recently demolished.
Local leaders say they believe that national authorities will stop the illegal destruction of the remainder of the Jewish complex in Lvov.
