Community Reception - 05.09.2000

Jewish Organizations Host Ukrainian Prime Minister on Capitol Hill

 

               

At Jewish community reception on Capitol Hill for the visiting Prime Minister of Ukraine, May 9, 2000: (l.-r.) Rabbi Israel Pilchick; Ambassador Steve Pifer, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine; Mark Levin, Executive Director of NCSJ; Victor Yuschenko, Prime Minister of Ukraine; Yevhen Chervonenko and Alexander Souslenski, leaders of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine; Rabbi Yakov Bleich, Chief Rabbi of Ukraine.                    Photo credit: Ron Sachs /CNP 

WASHINGTON – Ukrainian Prime Minister Victor A. Yuschenko condemned anti-Semitism in Ukraine at a May 9 Capitol Hill reception cosponsored by NCSJ and the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine. 

"You will not find anti-Semitism at the state level in Ukraine," the Prime Minister pledged. "I am committed to fighting anti-Semitism in our country." Referring to his own membership in the Orthodox Church, he stressed that "all are equal" and that "this is a public position of my government." He announced: "I am ready to demonstrate this."

NCSJ Vice President Harold Paul Luks (right) welcomes Ukrainian Prime Minister Victor Yuschenko (left) and Ukrainian Chief Rabbi Yakov Bleich (center) to community reception on Capitol Hill, May 9.

Photo credit: Ron Sachs /CNP

In introducing Prime Minister Yuschenko, NCSJ Vice President Harold Paul Luks recalled, "Twenty years ago, this event would have been unimaginable. Ten years ago it would still have been impossible – the Prime Minister of a free Ukraine, hosted by American Jewish and Ukrainian Jewish organizations on Capitol Hill." Luks expressed hope that the Prime Minister’s background and outlook would help Ukraine as well as Ukrainian Jewry to meet the challenges of the 21^st century.

(left to right) NCSJ Executive Director Mark Levin, 
NCSJ Vice President Harold Paul Luks, Rep. Benjamin Gilman, 
Ukrainian Chief Rabbi Yakov Bleich, Rep. Chris Smith
Photo Credit: Ron Sachs/CNP

Rabbi Yakov Bleich, Chief Rabbi of Ukraine, spoke on behalf of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine and introduced American rabbinic leaders who participated in the reception.

Among those attending were Rep. Benjamin Gilman (R-NY), Chairman of the House International Relations Committee; Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Co-Chair of the U.S. Helsinki Commission; Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI), Co-Chair of the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus; Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY); U.S. Government officials; Ukrainian Ambassador Kostyantyn Gryshchenko; leaders of the Ukrainian American community; and leaders and representatives of major Jewish organizations, including the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, Agudath Israel of America, ARZA/World Union, and American Friends of Lubavitch.

In December 1999, a delegation of American Jewish leaders met with Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma during his visit to Washington, discussing mutual interests and concerns such as the restitution of communal property and the integration of Ukraine into the West.

NCSJ: Advocates on behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States & Eurasia is a not-for-profit agency created in 1971. NCSJ is the mandated central coordinating agency in the United States on behalf of the 1.5 million Jews in the successor states. Today NCSJ continues its commitment to safeguard the religious and political freedoms of Jews living in the successor states, protect their right to emigrate without impediment, monitor and combat anti-Semitism, and ensure that Jews have full access to Jewish culture, education and heritage.