Mr. Volodymyr Zelensky, a popular comedian with no background in government, has been elected president of Ukraine. According to exit polls, Zelensky leads the incumbent president by over 70 percent of the vote.

In a historic first, Ukraine is now the only country besides Israel with a President and Prime Minister who are Jewish. Hopefully this will represent a dramatic turnaround for a country with a very long history of antisemitism.

Defeated incumbent President Petro Poroshenko, who just recently returned from a visit to Israel, holds close ties to Ukraine’s large Jewish community.