Azov apolgia

 For balance, I have to mention that some have been pointing out that the Azov battalion might not be as bad as people make them out to be

Like some pro Israel organizations and newspapers, like the The Times of Israel, reported that the Azov battalion isn’t as bad as they might seem. The Times of Israel’s March 2022 interview with Jewish Ukrainian nationalist Konstantyn Batoszky attempted to show how:

“I was shocked when I saw guys with swastika tattoos,” he [Batozsky] said about the Azov members he got to know. “But I talked with them all the time about being Jewish and they had nothing negative to say. They had no anti-Jewish ideology.” He insists that the viewpoint of Ukraine as a hotbed of antisemitism is in his mind ‘absurd’.

“I don’t practice, but still everyone knows I am Jewish – I have such a Jewish face! And I never experienced antisemitism from Ukrainians,” he insisted. “The military guys I am working with now really don’t care that I am a Jew.”

In March 2022, the ADL interviewed Jewish Theological Seminary professor, David Fishman, a conducted by ADL Director of European Affairs Andrew Srulevitch, titled “Why is Putin Calling the Ukrainian Government a Bunch of Nazis?” 

In the interview, David Fishman was asked aspects of the contemporary Ukrainian nationalist movement that venerate Stepan Bandera and the UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army), who are known to have collaborated with the Nazis during World War II. Keep in mind that members of the Azov battalion, revere Bandera and the UPA. 

Fishman said: “For Ukrainian nationalists, UPA and Bandera are symbols of the Ukrainian fight for Ukrainian independence. The UPA allied with Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union for tactical – not ideological – reasons.”