A publication of a government-funded Ukrainian youth group called Jews “satanic,” a UCSJ monitor said.
“The people’s musical festival of Ukrainian music†turned into “a place where the enemies of the Ukrainian people committed their satanic rites,†wrote the July 12 issue of the Redaktor, the newspaper of the Plast National Scout Organization of Ukraine, according to Meilekh Sheikhet.
Sheikhet, the Lvov monitor for UCSJ, an advocacy group for Jews in the former Soviet Union, told JTA that the youth group was complaining that Jews were included in a Ukrainian music fest.
“It is possible only because some Ukrainian leaders promote some neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic ideas among youth,†he said.
Plast won a grant this year from the office of Ukrainian President Victor Yuschenko. Last year it was recognized as “the best public organization in Ukraine active in the patriotic education of youth.”
In 2006, Plast had more than 10,000 members in Ukraine as well as more than 3,000 members in other countries.
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