Ukraine’s chief rabbi offered a powerful rebuke of Russia’s ongoing justification of the invasion of Ukraine and attacked its alliance with Iran as “fascist”.
Appearing on the Ukrainian-language arm of the Voice of America radio channel, Chief Rabbi Moshe Reuven Azman refuted Russia’s claim that it was attempting to “denazify” Ukraine and that the country is run by neo-Nazis, The Algemeiner reported.
He said: “Ukraine is a normal country, and all nationalities are treated respectfully.”
Rabbi Azman, who has won praise domestically and internationally as an outspoken opponent of the Russian invasion and as a leader of humanitarian efforts within Ukraine, claimed Russia uses the word ‘fascist’ to refer to anyone who disagrees with them.
He said: “Most people in the world understand this, and to those who do not, I say look who Russia [allies itself] with today: Iran - which openly declares that its goal is the destruction of Israel - Syria, and North Korea.
“And with Ukraine there is the whole free world. Who is the fascist here? It cannot be that the whole world are fascists, and only Russia and Iran are not.”
Rabbi Azman went on to lament the socio-political atmosphere within Russia under President Vladimir Putin, and decried peoples’ inability to “learn from the experience of the 1930s, when millions of people were shot for denunciations, and some were happy pointing fingers.”
He added that he has sympathy for Israel’s geo-political dilemma in responding to Ukraine’s plea for Israeli military assistance against Russia.
“I understand that Israel itself is in a difficult situation, that Russia is constantly blackmailing it because there is Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran on different sides. Therefore, I cannot condemn Israel for this,
“But the situation has now changed – Iran, which is trying to develop nuclear weapons and threatens to destroy Israel, has started supplying Russia with drones, which they are testing there and will use against Israel. And in return, they receive technology, aircraft, and nuclear specialists from Russia. Therefore, I think Israel should support Ukraine even in its own interests.”
Rabbi Azman also spoke highly of the global Jewish community’s humanitarian efforts for Ukraine.
He said: “We brought aid from Israel, backpacks with first aid and everything needed for emergency care. We saw that in many places water pipes were destroyed, so we are bringing water purification systems. We bring medicines from Israel, we bring rehabilitation equipment for the wounded from Baltic countries,”
On a recent trip to West Hampstead Chabad in the UK, Rabbi Azman arranged for a ‘Mitzvah tank’ laden with warm clothes, charging points, hot food and other essentials to the war-torn country. He previously thanked the UK's chief rabbi Ephraim Mirvis for the UK's support.
Shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Rabbi Azman released a heartfelt plea to social media urging the international community to not stay silent.
In the wake of Russia’s 2014 capture of Crimea, he established the village of Anatevka — named after the fictional town in Fiddler on the Roof — to house Jewish refugees fleeing the Donbas region. Before the war, the village was home to more than 200 Jews.
