site.btaTwo Journalists Stripped of Jewish Organization's Awards

The leadership of the Shalom Organization of the Jews in Bulgaria and the organizing committee of the annual Shofar Awards has adopted a unanimous decision to withdraw these awards from journalists Petar Volgin and Yuliana Metodieva, Shalom said in a press release on Friday.

Volgin received the organization's highest honour in 2009. He was stripped of the award "in connection with expressing pro-Russian and anti-democratic positions (including against the EU and NATO) and disseminating conspiracy theories and untrue information".

A Shofar was conferred on Metodieva in 2018. The distinction was withdrawn "for persistently demonizing the State of Israel and justifying the crimes committed by the Hamas terrorist organization." 

Until recently, Volgin anchored several shows on Bulgarian National Radio. He is now running for the European Parliament on the list of the Vazrazhdane Party. Metodieva is editor-in-chief of www.marginalia.bg, which champions the human rights of minority groups in Bulgaria.

"By this symbolic act, the Shalom Organization of the Jews in Bulgaria seeks to show that standing up for democratic values in Bulgarian society, including the fight against hate speech, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and demonizing Israel, must be actively pursued, and these phenomena should not be taken for granted," the press release reads.

The Shofar Awards have been conferred annually since 2004 on active members of society, public figures, journalists, doctors, artists, athletes and partner organizations for their contribution to projecting the good image of the Jewish community in Bulgaria, to religious and ethnic tolerance.