Friends!

Friends! August 4 is the day of memory of Zeev Jabotinsky. He is a journalist and politician, one of the symbols of the formation of Israel, a man who foresaw the independence of Ukraine. He has long insisted on the principles that Ukrainians and Jews should not quarrel, but act as a whole.

Zeev, or then Vladimir - was born in Odessa on October 18, 1880. One of the greatest shocks in Jabotinsky's life was the bloody pogroms swept by the Russian Empire at the early twentieth century. Then he decided at any cost to fight anti-Semitism, and put more effort into the revival of the Jewish state. He began to study his native language, broke off ties with his former environment, and soon left the general press.

Jabotinsky, as nobody knew and understood, what was true nationalism. He knew what he was prepared to do to create a Jewish state and therefore supported those who dreamed abouttheir own state. Even then, in the Russian Empire, he appealed to the Jews to support local national movements, and especially Ukrainians. Because they are strong allies in the fight against a common enemy. Jabotinsky said: "I, a nationalist, will not recognize myself as a citizen of the second class in Russia at a great price. I consider myself basically the same master in this state as a Russian; I demand that the state adapt to my national requirements precisely as it should adapt to the demands of Russians, Ukrainians, Poles, Tatars, etc. "

Zeev was a highly educated man, but his mind, knowledge and faith made him a visionary. For it was he who was the only publicist who foresaw the creation of Ukrainian and Jewish powers when it seemed something impossible.

Jabotinsky did everything possible to counter pogroms in Ukraine in 1917-1920. He was the initiator of the creation of Jewish armed formations to protect against pogroms. But this decision was rejected by the Central Rada.

"When I die, you can write on my grave:" This is the man who signed an agreement with Petliura, "said Jabotinsky. The agreement included the creation of Jewish armed self-defense units as part of the Army of the Ukrainian People's Republic. By signing the agreement, Jabotinsky hoped that the troops of the Directorate would strongly suppress any attempts at pogroms in their occupied territories. He said: "... neither Petliura, nor Vynnichenko, nor the rest of the prominent members of this Ukrainian government have ever been called" pogromers ". Although I did not personally know them, yet I am well aware of this type of Ukrainian nationalistic intellectual with socialist views. I grew up with them, and I was fighting with them against anti-Semites and Russifiers - Jewish and Ukrainian. Neither me nor the rest of the thinking Zionists of Southern Russia convinced that people of this type could be considered anti-Semites. "

During the First World, Jabotinsky fought as part of the British Army's own Jewish Legion. After the war, he created Jewish self-defense in Jerusalem, which became the nucleus of the Israeli armed forces. In 1920, self-defense resisted the Arab extremists who tried to arrange a pogrom. The British authorities accused Jabotinsky of having sentenced him to 15 years' imprisonment. But the world community was protesting, and it was soon released.

Unfortunately, Jabotinsky did not have time to see with his own eyes the things that he predicted - neither the independent State of Israel nor Ukraine. He died on August 4, 1940 in New York, and ordered to bury himself in Jerusalem. But many years itd id not happen. Political opponents did everything to prevent the testament to be fulfilled.

Finally, in 1964, Jabotinsky was reburied on Mount Herzl.

Jabotinsky was a true nationalist, one of the symbols of Israel, a wise and sincere man. He was never afraid of being a white crow and taking decisions for which he even condemned the Jews himself. But in the end, he left an outstanding track in the state of Israel, in his formation and in the fact that this fantastic idea once happened. He left a lesson for Ukrainians - if you see something with which you can not tolerate, do not sit idly by, but act.