'Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews' - The Moscow Times

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'Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews' - The Moscow Times
John Rogers

Sam Sokol looks at the fate of Jews in Ukraine

Award-winning journalist Sam Sokol is the author of “Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews,” a book covering the tragic fate of the Jewish communities in Ukraine since the 2013 Euromaidan revolution, the annexation of Crimea and war in the Donbass. As a reporter for the Jerusalem Post covering European diasporas, Sokol was ideally placed to witness how the Jewish communities were affected by both political scheming and physical fighting.

On the macro level, Sokol assesses whether Ukrainian Jews have been used as pawns in a propaganda assault by the Russian government and in revisionist Ukrainian history that makes heroes out of war criminals responsible for Jewish and Polish atrocities. These ideological issues serve as the setting for stories of human struggle, which is placed at the forefront of the book. Sokol’s extensive range of interviews with Jewish refugees, fighters, presidents and victims are seamlessly woven into the wider context to create a book that is broad in scope but always returns to individual people. The story is tragic and complex, and the book is impossible to put down.

Sam Sokol talked to The Moscow Times’ John Rogers about the making of his book. Some questions have been edited for brevity and clarity.

How did the book come about?

I was a reporter for the Jerusalem Post covering Jewish diaspora affairs… When the Euromaidan started, because of Svoboda’s [a far-right political party] role in the protests we thought it would be appropriate if I went out and reported from the ground there… As the conflict continued you started to see that even though it wasn’t a Jewish conflict, Jewish issues kept coming to the fore. There was a rise in anti-Semitic attacks, and this started to be used in the propaganda on the Russian side which said it was a “fascist junta” and “Nazis were taking over Ukraine.” As Russia took Crimea and started fermenting separatist uprising in the Donbass you started seeing these Jewish issues more and more, and more accusations of anti-Semitism. It was brilliant if twisted idea from Putin and the Kremlin: if you can tap into the legacy of the Great Patriotic War, make people think that they’re going to fight the fascists, then it’s easier to mobilize people, easier to cause divisions within Ukraine…

Read more at: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/09/07/putins-hybrid-war-and-the-jews-a67184

Actually, a very pertinent question.