Prominent Kyiv-based Rabbi Moshe Azman accuses Russia of attacking indiscriminately, condemning Russians for standing idly by while Ukraine is being invaded.
On Tuesday, March 1, Rabbi Moshe Azman issued a fiery condemnation of Russian people, especially Russian Jews, for standing idly by while Russia pummels Ukraine for the sixth straight day in an attempted invasion.
“Remember that he who does not care and he who agrees silently — that is an accomplice to a crime. A war crime! A crime against humanity!” said the St. Petersburg-born Rabbi Azman, who is one of the several men who claim to be Ukraine’s chief rabbi.
In his video statement, speaking in Russian, holding a Torah scroll, Azman said he “curses” those who are “silent accomplices in this horrible crime.” He also accused the Russian military of indiscriminately bombing Ukraine using Grad rockets, which are not high-accuracy weapons. Holding
Rabbi Azman made waves last year when he supported the storming of the US Capitol building. He also had close ties with several of former US president Donald Trump’s associates involved in the so-called Ukrainegate scandal, in which Trump attempted to withhold military aid to Ukraine unless Kyiv announced it was investigating US President Joe Biden’s son, reports The Times of Israel.
Another chief rabbi of Ukraine, Yaakov Bleich, who is recognized as such by the World Jewish Congress and European Jewish Congress, told the CNN that he considered Vladimir Putin to be a Nazi and called for the world to intervene.
“From Friday, it went from a war against the Ukrainian army to a war against the people. I’m not gonna call it a genocide because he’s just killing everybody indiscriminately, he doesn’t care about what their genetics are or where they’re coming from.”
Ukraine says more than 2,000 civilians have been killed in the conflict as of Wednesday.
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