kiev | In the run-up to Ukraine’s presidential re-vote Dec. 26, opposition candidate Viktor Yuschenko is taking steps to dispel fears among some Jews worried about his political ties with Ukrainian nationalist groups.
When Yuschenko recently made a public appearance in Kiev’s Central Synagogue to light Chanukah candles, some 400 Jews packed the shul (known here as the Brodsky Synagogue) welcoming Yuschenko, his wife, Katerina, and their children with an ovation.
In an interview with JTA that evening, Yuschenko — who has been suffering from a mystery ailment that reports now indicate is the result of a deliberate poisoning — said that should he win the upcoming election, he will make relations with Israel a priority.
“Under my presidency, the relations between Ukraine and the state of Israel will take a turn for the better,” he promised.
His visit marked the rare appearance of a top Ukrainian political leader at a synagogue ceremony.
Some leaders of Ukraine’s Jewish community, who had previously preferred not to publicize their political preferences during the election standoff that followed the contested Nov. 21 presidential runoff, praised Yuschenko for his public show of support to the community.
“This visit demonstrated Yuschenko’s human and political position and his respect toward the Jewish community,” said Eduard Dolinsky, executive director of the umbrella United Jewish Community of Ukraine.
Yuschenko is widely expected to win in the re-vote against Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, who is supported by the central authorities in this nation of 48 million.
The results of the Nov. 21 runoff — in which Yuschenko finished second to Yanukovich — were invalidated by Ukraine’s Supreme Court earlier this month due to allegations of widespread electoral fraud.
Jews were among thousands of Ukrainians who flocked to Kiev’s central square in the aftermath of the runoff to protest what they believed were tainted election results.
Many Jewish voters had said they supported Yanukovich because they feared the anti-Semitism associated with some nationalist groups that are members of Yuschenko’s coalition.
Yuschenko’s Chanukah appearance is likely to allay some of these concerns and could influence the Jewish vote in the upcoming election, some Jewish experts believe.
“Some Jews have apprehensions about Yuschenko’s entourage, but his visit dispelled much of the fears,” said Mikhail Frenkel, a veteran Jewish journalist in Kiev and head of the Association of Jewish Media in Ukraine.
Jews who greeted Yuschenko in the shul were not shy about whom they supported. Many wore orange ribbons and scarves — orange being the symbol of Yuschenko’s campaign — in addition to badges reading “Yes, Yuschenko!”
For his part, Yuschenko sported a kippah, which Jewish officials said was a first among top Ukrainian political leaders.
The Jewish community of Kiev said it sent Chanukah invitations to both presidential contenders, but only Yuschenko responded.
In his short address at the synagogue, Yuschenko said that Chanukah “demonstrates that nothing can prevent people from moving to freedom.”
He also spoke highly of the Jewish people and Israel. “This was the great Jewish people who saved Jewish traditions, culture and revived the Jewish state,” he said.