Tel Aviv/Kiev, Feb 24, (dpa/GNA) – Kiev’s Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Markovitch, has expressed concern about anti-Semitic attacks on the city’s Jewish community and its synagogue in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“We are afraid of anti-Semitism because we don’t know what will happen,” the rabbi said in Kiev on Thursday, adding that the Jewish community was worried that there would be riots and looting.
Fifty mattresses, food and fuel have been brought to the synagogue to provide for members of the 2,500-strong congregation who are unable to leave the city.
The rabbi’s wife Inna noted that throughout history, Jews have been blamed for any kind of unrest in society. “History repeats itself,” she said.
Security guards hired by the rabbi had not shown up in the morning after the company in charge of them doubled their fee. They urgently needed armed protection, the rabbi said.
“It was very scary, there is no infrastructure in Kiev, no missile shelters, no help from the government, even the alarm was very weak,” said Inna Markovitch, referring to the air raid siren that sounded across the capital on Thursday.
Though both the rabbi and his wife have Israeli passports, they have decided to stay in Kiev, partly to look after some 200 members of the Jewish community who are bedridden.
“We feel an obligation to the Jewish population here,” said Inna Markovitch, who has seven children and a number of grandchildren who also reside in Kiev.
They are in contact with the Israeli embassy, which has moved its operations to Lviv in western Ukraine and is therefore unable to help, the couple said.
The rabbi and his wife had tried to organize minibuses to help people leave the city, but anyone who tried simply got stuck in traffic.
GNA