Agency chairman: We have a moral obligation to ensure the safety and security of the community.
By JPOST.COM STAFF People carry the coffin of one anti-governent protester who was killed after days of violence during a rally in the Independence Square in Kiev February 22, 2014.(photo credit: REUTERS)
The Jewish Agency announced Saturday that it would provide emergency aid to the Jewish community in Ukraine as anti-government protests raged in Kiev.The non-profit organization was planning to launch a fundraising campaign to increasing security measures for Jewish institutions in Ukraine."We have a moral obligation to ensure the safety and security of the community," Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky said in a statement.The Jewish community in the Ukraine consists of around 200,000 members - one of the largest in the world. Several Jewish organizations in the country have already expressed concern that the violence could spill over into anti-Semitic attacks against the Jewish community.The Jewish Agency's announcement came on the same day that President Viktor Yanukovich was ousted from power, after months of protests and a week of bloodshed in Kiev that saw 82 people killed and the center of the capital transformed into an inferno.Sam Sokol and Reuters contributed to this report.
