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Wooden crosses seen on a plot designated for the construction of a synagogue in the Ukrainian city of Poltava. (COL)
Last update - 22:28 02/12/2008
Ukraine rabbi: Nationalists try to foil synagogue construction with wooden crosses
By The Associated Press
Tags: Jewish World, Jews, Ukraine 

A Jewish leader in Ukraine accused nationalist activists Tuesday of trying to halt construction of a synagogue by erecting crosses on the land.

The synagogue is to be built in the central-eastern city of Poltava, once a thriving center of Jewish life before the Holocaust.

Poltava's Chief Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Segal said activists identifying themselves as Ukrainian patriots were seeking to stir religious tension last month by placing seven wooden crosses on the plot of land allocated for the Jewish house of prayer.
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He said the activists told him there was no need for a synagogue in Poltava.

"This is horrible," Segal said, calling the crosses an insult on the Jewish community. "They come into your house without asking, and they do what they want."

City authorities declined to comment Tuesday.

The new synagogue would be the first in Poltava since World War II, when the city's 10 or more synagogues were destroyed. Segal said construction of the synagogue, funded by the local and global Jewish community, would begin within months and be finished in two years.

Before the Holocaust, nearly 20 percent of Poltava's 100,000 population was Jewish, according to Segal. The population has since grown to 300,000, but only 3,000 - or 1 percent - are Jews.

Jewish groups say that anti-Semitism persists in the predominantly Orthodox Christian country, with little respect being given to Jewish cemeteries and memorial sites.

Segal said he believes the activists planted the crosses in an effort to provoke a response from the Jewish community, and removed them Monday when no response was given.

Segal said the activists earlier had also planted a viburnum tree, a symbol of Ukraine, on the construction site - an act ignored by the Jewish community.

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      1.   Ukraine 20:12  |  RonH 02/12/08
      2.   To RonH 20:20  |  Observer 02/12/08
      3.   Not very sophisticated 20:23  |  Colin Wright 02/12/08
      4.   Such vitriol! 20:58  |  hollingsworth 02/12/08
      5.   These Ukrainian nationalists sounds likes the Israeli Settlers. 21:15  |  JustMe 02/12/08
      6.   Disgusting and childish 21:33  |  hala 02/12/08
      7.   Colin Wrong 21:33  |  judith 02/12/08
      8.   #5, JustMe...this is astonishing!! 22:40  |  Silvienne 02/12/08
      9.   #5 #8 23:40  |  jeff 02/12/08
      10.   If they come into your house without askin and do what they want 23:41  |  Nat 02/12/08
      11.   RE: Justme and Silvienne 23:57  |  judith 02/12/08
      12.   #9, jeff.... 00:27  |  Silvienne 03/12/08
      13.   Wrong Hollingsworth ... they were "athiests" 01:03  |  GZLives 03/12/08
      14.   Hey don `t the Israelis do this? 02:10  |  The Hague 03/12/08
      15.   Disgusting behaviour! 02:21  |  Magnus K. 03/12/08
      16.   You call them "Activists?" 03:02  |  Josh 03/12/08
      17.   Sounds like West Bank 04:01  |  Ephraim 03/12/08
      18.   RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, RELIGIOUS FREEDOM 06:07  |  John Isenhower 03/12/08
      19.   #11 judith: of course I condemn this act and SIMILAR act... 09:00  |  JustMe 03/12/08
      20.   #11, judith, please don`t even bother... 18:16  |  Silvienne 03/12/08
      21.   #17, Ephraim, indeed it does! 18:21  |  Silvienne 03/12/08
      22.   Time to make Aliya - Ukraine has an a very antisemitic history 07:00  |  Mark Leaman 18/05/09
      23.   Each nation who curses Jews is cursed. 16:19  |  petra 18/05/09
      24.   a waste of energy 01:22  |  max candel; 19/05/09
      25.   the Ukraine has along and honored history of Jew hatred. As do 02:05  |  Jack 19/05/09
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