Ternopil deputy calls on to hang Jews near the church taken from UOC

Bohdan Yatsikovsky on the doorsteps of the seized church in Gnizdychne village. Photo: a screenshot / Facebook / Eduard Dolinsky

In Gnizdychne village of the Zbarazh district, Ternopil region, on the doorsteps of the Holy Transfiguration Church taken from the UOC community, deputy of the Ternopil Regional Council Bohdan Yatsikovsky publicly sang a song with anti-Semitic content. The video of the song "Jew before hanging" was published on his Facebook page by the head of the Ukrainian Jewish Committee Eduard Dolinsky.

The song, which the Ternopil deputy, a member of the "Oleh Lyashko Radical Party" sang at the celebration of the Savior at the church seized by the OCU, contains calls to hang Jews and shoot "Muscovites".

So, for example, the song says: "Everywhere our power is blooming, a Jew is sсreaming: ‘Don't hit me,  don't do that’, while a rope is waiting for him in a little garden, in a quiet corner..."

After people's deputy Renat Kuzmin from the “Opposition Platform – For Life” sent an appeal to the police to prosecute Yatsikovsky for inciting ethnic hatred, the Ternopil deputy called the accusations against him a "provocation" and the song "folk art". According to him, it was "a folklore version of a famous Ukrainian song, which is often sung by many Ukrainians in our region".

“The head of the Radical Party in the Ternopil region and the deputy head of the State Commission of Ukraine for Natural Resources Yatsikovsky said that he ‘deeply respects the Jewish people, condemns anti-Semitism’ and draws inspiration from Zhabotinsky and Golda Meir. Why at a religious holiday on the doorsteps of the church in front of the audience it was necessary to perform a song about how to kill Jews, the deputy did not explain," the head of the Ukrainian Jewish Committee Eduard Dolinsky commented on Yatsikovsky's explanations.

We recall that the Holy Transfiguration Church in Gnizdychne village was seized on March 3, 2019, with the active participation of the Right Sector members. Believers of the canonical Church who entered the temple for negotiations were beaten and driven out into the street. The takeover was led by the scandalous cleric of the UOC-KP Ivan Lesik.

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