KIEV
Iran's president, who wants to see a world without Israel, has a vociferous ally in Ukraine. A Kiev-based university that already has gained international notoriety for its anti-Zionist propaganda and anti-Semitic publications now wants the United Nations to "close" Israel.

The call came in November from the Interregional Academy for Personnel Management, known by its Russian acronym MAUP, whose leadership said the United Nations should revoke its 1947 resolution on the creation of a Jewish state.

"Mankind lived without the State of Israel exactly 2,670 years, but after the second of its creation all the world feels a constant aggression of the old 'sons of the devil,' "according to a university statement, published last month in the school newspaper, supporting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent call to destroy Israel.

MAUP in recent months has become a major purveyor of anti-Semitism in Ukraine. But the silence until recently of Ukrainian authorities - many of whom have ties to the university - has led to criticism from the local Jewish community, international Jewish organizations and Israeli officials.

The anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism of MAUP's leaders run against Ukraine's official policy line, but the school appears to have close ties to leading policymakers, including Foreign Minister Boris Tarasyuk, an expert on Arab countries who only recently gave up his job at MAUP, reportedly under pressure from President Viktor Yuschenko.

Many of Ukraine's top politicians - including Yuschenko, Tarasyuk, former president Leonid Kravchuk and several members of Parliament - have received honorary degrees or titles from MAUP.

These leaders find themselves in good company: The school has bestowed honorary titles and degrees on some internationally renowned hate-mongers, including U.S. white supremacist David Duke, who has a doctorate in history from MAUP and has participated in a number of MAUP-organized anti-Zionist conferences in Kiev.

MAUP is the country's largest private university. With a dozen branches throughout Ukraine, MAUP has about 35,000 students, including hundreds of foreigners, mostly from Arab and developing countries. Formerly a state-owned college system that offered post-graduate education for the public sector, MAUP went private after the fall of communism in 1991.

"MAUP was created by prominent representatives of the Ukrainian ruling elite," said Josef Zissels, leader of the Ukrainian Va'ad, a leading Jewish group, and one of MAUP's most vocal critics.

Neighboring Poland said it may not recognize MAUP degrees because of the school's controversial stand on international issues. The Israeli Foreign Ministry has urged Ukraine to open a probe into the school's anti-Semitic activities.

The school's reputation is precisely what appeals to some of MAUP's foreign students. In an interview, a first-year student from Iran acknowledged that it was the university's anti-Zionism that attracted her and many Arab students.

The student, who gave her name as Ilda, said she had wanted to study medicine in Ukraine but instead studied Russian at MAUP because the school "struggles against the evil of world Zionism."

Other students who don't agree seem afraid to speak openly about the situation.

Liana Musatova, who graduated from MAUP last year with a master's degree in political science, said the school is permeated with the political views of its leadership, which she said could be "dangerous for the students."

Students receive a free copy of MAUP's newspaper, Personal Plus. Almost every issue carries anti-Semitic and anti-Israel articles. According to Zissels, 70 percent of all anti-Semitic publications today in Ukraine are published by MAUP, including Mein Kampf and "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion." u