Prominent Ukrainian lawmakers and businessmen formed a group this month to lobby on behalf of Jews in Ukraine and Israel.

“[The Ukrainian Jewish Committee] will prevent infringement of the civil and religious rights of Jews and representatives of all ethnic and religious groups, and enhance the quality of Ukrainian Jewish life by helping to ensure Jewish continuity and deepen the ties between Ukrainian and Israeli Jews,” said Eduard Dolinsky, a director general of the committee.

Parliament member Aleksandr Feldman, the president of the lobby, said the committee is deeply concerned about the rise of anti-Semitism around the world and will work to promote democratic values and a pluralistic society in which “people of all nationalities and faiths will be protected.”

The committee will use advocacy, diplomacy and education to combat all forms of bigotry in Ukraine, and help the government, universities and the media respond to anti-Semitism. Ukrainian officials, diplomats and rabbis and Jewish leaders of Ukraine, Israel, the United States, Germany and Russia, including prominent Jewish members of parliaments, attended the opening in Kiev. — jta