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Ukraine synagogue firebombed, no injuries

Local rabbi praises police for providing extra security to Jewish community during Hanukkah.

By World Israel News Staff

A Chabad synagogue in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, was firebombed overnight Tuesday, with damage to the building. No injuries were reported in the attack.

“Last night, just before midnight, an unknown individual approached the synagogue door,” said the city’s rabbi and Chabad emissary, Rabbi Sholom Gottlieb, in a media statement.

“After checking that there were no people around, he threw the firebomb.”

Gottlieb added that “we are seeing a significant rise in antisemitism on social media. Even though it hasn’t manifested on the streets, we are taking extra precautions.”

Police are currently searching for the suspect.

The attack occurred during the ongoing Hanukkah holiday, as Chabad and other Jewish groups hold public candle-lighting events throughout the city.

Rabbi Simcha Levenhartz, a Chabad emissary based in Kyiv, said that local police were providing extra security to ensure that Jewish groups can hold public events without being harmed or harassed.

“It is reassuring to see the police’s concern, allowing the Jewish community to safely celebrate Hanukkah,” he said.

There are some 45,000 Jews in Ukraine, according to the World Jewish Conference. Ukraine is home to the 4th-largest Jewish population in Europe and has the 11th-largest Jewish community in the world.

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Prior to the end of communism in 1991, there were approximately 480,000 Jewish residents of Ukraine. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, that number rapidly plunged, with hundreds of thousands immigrating to Israel, the United States, Canada, and various countries throughout Europe.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Jewish population has shrunk even further.

Despite the fact that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish, the country has a long history of bloody antisemitism.

The Babyn Yar massacre, one of the largest mass killings during the Holocaust, was carried out on Ukrainian soil.

Nazi collaborators, including Stefan Bandera, are still hailed as national heroes in Ukraine.