Sources: USA Today: http://bit.ly/USAtodayJewishRegUkr and YNet: http://bit.ly/YNetJewishRegUkr

Jews exiting a Donetsk, Ukraine synagogue were handed a leaflet on Passover Eve 2014: "Dear Ukraine citizens of Jewish nationality, due to the fact that the leaders of the Jewish community of Ukraine supported Bendery Junta and oppose the pro-Slavic People's Republic of Donetsk, [the interim government] has decided that all citizens of Jewish descent, over 16 years of age and residing within the republic's territory are required to report to the Commissioner for Nationalities in the Donetsk Regional Administration building and register... ID and passport are required to register your Jewish religion, religious documents of family members, as well as documents establishing the rights to all real estate property that belongs to you, including vehicles...Evasion of registration [for a fee, by the way] will result in citizenship revoke and you will be forced outside the country with a confiscation of property."

The apparent signatory, Denis Pushilin, leader of the Donetsk temporary government, claims no knowledge of the document and calls it a provocation. 

However, there are 17,000 Jews in Donetsk alone. While it would be easy to assume this madness will get squashed locally before it has a chance to escalate, Jewish leaders in the Ukraine have been asking for support (see video attached to this petition) precisely to fend off what has, apparently, now occurred.

As of this writing, diplomatic talks are underway (http://bit.ly/UkrDiplomacy20140417), but not necessarily regarding this matter. Regardless of what has happened thusfar politically, we call on President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry to make their influence felt against oppression, to see the Donetsk Jewish registry is not enforced and does not escalate - no matter who does or does not claim responsibility for this.

Please make your voice heard: that the world WILL NOT stand for this, not even for a joke and certainly not for real, not even for one day.

Thank you! 

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UPDATE: About an hour or two after this petition launched, Google picked up this news: http://bit.ly/KerryRespondsUkrJewReg - including a statement by US Secretary of State John Kerry denouncing the registry as "beyond unacceptable. And any of the people who engage in these kinds of activities - from whatever party or whatever ideology or whatever place they crawl out of - there is no place for that." So for any additional signers to this petition, I've edited the petition letter to acknowledge this statement.