Back in May 2011, the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, for which I serve as president, co-sponsored an international conference in Kiev together with the Ukrainian Jewish Committee to fight against anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in Ukraine and around the world. During the conference, I met many wonderful Jewish and Muslim Ukrainians -- many of the latter from the Crimean Tatar community -- all of whom told me that despite long and bitter histories of anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim violence in that country, they were committed to remaining in Ukraine and forging interfaith coalitions together with leaders of the majority Christian churches dedicated to building a pluralistic and democratic Ukraine.
The horrifying explosion of violence in Kiev and around Ukraine this week, that has apparently left as many 100 people dead and many more wounded, has obviously put that noble dream at grave risk. There is growing concern that the very territorial integrity of the country could be endangered -- with the country potentially fracturing into a pro-European western Ukraine and a pro-Russian eastern Ukraine, unless both the government of President Viktor Yanukovych and the opposition coalition manage to pull back from the brink. Amidst the specter of chaotic civil war, there is plenty or reason for concern for the well-being of Ukraine's approximately 70,000 Jews and 500,000 Muslims, the majority of whom are Crimean Tatars.
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