Jewish Women Leaders Confront Anti-Semitism

Thank you to Mira Fox at The Forward for covering this story. Click here to read the article.

The Jewish leaders of Ukraine and Russia are fighting anti-Semitism online with far-reaching results. Project Kesher trained leaders in Ukraine were recently able to stop the online sale of anti-Semitic products that were being marketed and sold on a popular e-commerce website. 

Elina Katz, Project Kesher Ukraine’s Jewish Women’s Leadership Program Coordinator from Rivne, Ukraine, came across anti-Semitic products being sold on a popular Ukrainian ecommerce website, prom.ua. The products featured an alligator logo, to look like the famous Lacoste logo, reading instead, “HoLocaust.” Elina, a marketing expert and activist trained by Mediators Beyond Borders International and Project Kesher, was angry and she sprang into action. 

Project Kesher Ukraine quickly notified 100+ other Ukrainian Jewish organizations. They issued a cease and desist letter explaining that the products violated Ukraine’s anti-Semitism laws and that, the company, a Ukrainian equivalent of Amazon, would be subject to fines. The anti-Semitic products were taken down from the website the next day. 

At a meeting of Project Kesher’s Executive Council, senior leaders from Belarus, Israel, Russia, Ukraine, and the US, Project Kesher Russia noted that the offending products are made in Russia, and they are now planning to stop their production and distribution at the source. Last month, these Project Kesher Russia leaders attended The 3rd International Conference on Countering Xenophobia, Racism and Anti-Semitism, held by the Russian Jewish Congress in Moscow and met the Russian government officials responsible for combatting anti-Semitism. These teams will persist until they see the products removed from production.

In the early post-Soviet years, it was the American Jewish community that organized and responded to incidents of anti-Semitism in the region. Today, that has increasingly changed. Project Kesher’s Jewish Women’s Leadership Program has trained over 3,500 women to identify and solve problems in the community, including hate crimes and anti-Semitic acts. 

Project Kesher supports a large grassroots network of Jewish women leaders in Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, as they advocate for Jewish community, civil society, and women’s empowerment, health, and safety. Elina is just one example of thousands of active Project Kesher-trained leaders, who are prepared to assess and adapt to the ever-changing needs in their communities and beyond. The Project Kesher global network provides the support and critical mass needed to make lasting social change.