Ukraine city petitioned over ‘Star of David’ in coat of arms

Some 200 people in the west Ukrainian city of Ternopil present local authorities with a petition to remove from the city’s coat of arms a shape they say is the Star of David.

The coat of arms of Ternopil features a fortress above the star shape, which has six points and comprises 12 triangles – half of them khaki colored and the rest blank. Under the star is a horizontal crescent, divided into a khaki half and a blank one. The shield bearing those symbols is crowned by the Ukrainian trident — the Sign of Princely State of Volodymyr the Great, which is the main national symbol and the country’s coat of arms.

The petitioners demand the city “replace the Jewish Star of David with the traditional Ukrainian octagon” and “complement the star and crescent with a Christian cross, which must go back to the top of the trident,” the news website Ukraina Moloda reports.

They cited the writings of a Ukrainian fundamentalist Christian who said the Star of David is “associated with the symbol of the antichrist.”