Ukraine: Zelensky invokes Judaism against Russian soldiers

With online posts in Hebrew and appeals to Jews to “cry out” in response to Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has invoked his faith to rally support for his embattled country.

The 44-year-old comedian-turned-president told the Times of Israel in 2020 that he had an “ordinary… Jewish upbringing”, explaining “most Jewish families in the Soviet Union were not religious.”

He has also described religion as a personal matter and even swore his presidential oath on the Bible.

But since Russia’s invasion began on February 24, Zelensky has made explicit reference to Judaism in stirring social media posts seeking to rally support for Ukraine.

On Wednesday, a day after a Russian attack on Kyiv’s television mast beside Babi Yar — the site of a World War II Nazi massacre in which over 30,000 of the city’s Jews were shot — Zelensky reacted with outrage.

“I call now on all the Jews of the world — do you not see what is happening here? This is why it’s important for millions of Jews around the world not to stay silent in the face of such sights. Because Nazism was born in silence,” he wrote in Hebrew on the Telegram messenger service.

The following day, Zelensky, who has visited Israel many times and said he has family there, reached out again to Jews.

He told a news conference he was grateful for “a beautiful picture of people wrapped in the Ukraine flag at the Western Wall” — in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem considered the holiest site where Jews can pray.