Outrage as Ukraine reinstates diplomat sacked for anti-Semitism

Ukraine’s Jewish community expresses indignation after a court decision forced the foreign ministry to reinstate an ex-consul fired last year over anti-Semitic remarks made while serving in his post.

Vasyl Marushchynets served as a Ukrainian consul in Germany’s Hamburg before he was sacked in May 2018 following a series of publications the foreign ministry has deemed “shameful,” anti-Semitic and “inciting inter-ethnic hate.”

According to various media, he also made posts on his Facebook account insulting Jews and claiming that “to be a Nazi is an honor.”

A photo was circulating in the media and on social networks of Marushchynets posing with a birthday cake resembling Adolf Hitler’s notorious book “Mein Kampf,” although AFP was unable to verify its authenticity.

The former diplomat sued over his dismissal and won in November. The Ukrainian foreign ministry said it was “bound to comply” with the ruling, but added that it will contest it in the Supreme Court.

The ministry said it considers Marushchynets’ actions “incompatible with the high rank of civil servant and Ukrainian diplomat” and sees him as having caused “significant damage” to Ukraine’s international image.

The ministry re-hired Marushchynets on December 9 and paid him about $9,000 in wages that would have accrued since his dismissal, spokeswoman Kateryna Zelenko tells AFP.

The news of the reinstatement is slammed by Ukraine’s Jewish community.

“It is ultra-shameful, truly an assault on common sense, if such an obvious anti-Semite and even neo-Nazi is being reinstated in diplomatic service,” Iosif Zisels, a prominent Jewish activist in Ukraine, tells AFP.

“I don’t understand how it’s possible that there are no legitimate mechanisms to prevent his reinstatement in a structure such as the foreign ministry,” he says.

“A person who permits anti-Semitic and xenophobic attacks has no right to hold a diplomatic post,” says Inna Ioffe, director of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine.

— AFP