Ukraine mayor accused of anti-Semitism

The incident was a worrying sign of persistent anti-Semitism in a country that lost hundreds of thousands of Jews in the Holocaust.

Prosecutors have charged Serhiy Ratushnyak, the mayor of the western city of Uzhhorod, with hooliganism, abuse of office and xenophobia, said Viktoriya Popovych, a spokeswoman for the regional prosecutor's office. The investigation was opened after Ratushnyak assailed former parliament speaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk and attacked one of his campaign workers last month.

Popovych would not provide further details.

Yatsenyuk accuses Ratushnyak of attacking and injuring a young woman who campaigned for him in Uzhhorod on Aug. 6. The mayor threw himself at the woman, grabbed her by the throat and threw her to the ground, causing bruises and a concussion, according to Yatsenyuk's office.

Later, Ratushnyak called Yatsenyuk "an impudent little Jew".

The Refusal to Recognize Anti-Semitism

In his blog after the Swedish debacle, Daniel Mandel's "The Refusal to Recognize Anti-Semitism" shares the following: "Yet, in a way, on this last point, Bildt was inadvertently right. A debate of sorts is indeed taking place on whether or not Jews are monsters who stand apart from the mass of humankind. It has in fact been proceeding for some time. Such a discussion has always been the operative, incipient strategy of anti-Semitic campaigns. In order to treat Jews as monsters to be extirpated, one must first persuade other people that they are monsters."

This alone should be a slap in the face, a cold bucket of water, to all of us - that antiSemitism is not just another type of bigotry and hatred. It is something that we must never forget.