Press Release - 12.02.2003

 

 

NCSJ Issues New Country Reports for Former Soviet Union

NCSJ Contact: Shai Franklin, NCSJ (202-898-2500)

December 2, 2003 – NCSJ: Advocates on behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States & Eurasia announces its new Country Reports 2003/2004: Inside the Successor States. The Reports highlight key political developments and community concerns, including:

• Revival of Jewish life throughout the successor states of the former Soviet Union;
  
• War on Terrorism: Cooperation by successor states, and support for U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan and Iraq;
  
• Support for international efforts to combat anti-Semitism in Western and Eastern Europe;
  
• Regional initiatives to build bridges between Jews, Muslims, and Christians;
  
• Anti-Semitism and government interference in Jewish community affairs;
  
• Military and strategic cooperation with Iran;
  
• Restitution of Communal Property: Continued difficulties in Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova;
  
• Efforts by Baltic countries to address Holocaust-era issues;
  
• Israeli diplomatic outreach.

In announcing the new Reports, NCSJ Chairman Robert J. Meth of Los Angeles, noted, “Representing the world’s third-largest Jewish community, the successor states of the former Soviet Union continue to play a major role in international affairs and in shaping the Jewish future.These new Reports reflect NCSJ’s ongoing consultations with a network of contacts throughout the FSU that include government officials, Jewish communal leaders, and representatives of non-governmental organizations.”

NCSJ President Joel M. Schindler emphasized: “The NCSJ Reports treat each country separately, in line with NCSJ’s approach to each country as an independent actor in the post-Cold War era. Some of these nations are even pushing their Western neighbors to take stronger action against anti-Semitism, to stop the United Nations from being an anti-Zionist forum, and to value close relations with the United States and Israel.”

According to NCSJ Executive Director Mark B. Levin, the NCSJ Country Reports and other country-specific information are already available online at NCSJ’s Web site – www.ncsj.org. “Although the Country Reports are updated periodically in print, the Web version is updated continuously,” Levin said. “As with previous editions, this is a valuable reference tool – objective, timely, and circulated widely among policymakers, the press, community leadership, students, and others interested in the changes affecting the successor states and their effect on the West.”

Copies of Country Reports 2003/2004: Inside the Successor States are available by contacting NCSJ (ncsj@ncsj.org / 202-898-2500).

NCSJ: Advocates on behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States & Eurasia – a voluntary, not-for-profit agency created in 1971, is the mandated central coordinating agency of the organized American Jewish community for policy and activities on behalf of the estimated 1.5 million Jews in the former Soviet Union. NCSJ comprises nearly 50 national organizations and over 300 local federations, community councils and committees across the United States. Through this extensive network, NCSJ mobilizes the resources, energies and talents of millions of U.S. citizens, and also represents the American Jewish community in dealings with similar national groups abroad, and at international fora.

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