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 reputation 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. 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. Many lesser-known politicians and bureaucrats also call MAUP their alma mater. Zoya Borisova, head of the school`s Department of Russian and Ukrainian as Foreign Languages, dismissed accusations of anti-Semitism. ”This is a fight against Zionism, but not against Jews,” she said. 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. The university offers degrees in law, economics, business administration, accounting, political science, practical medicine and psychology and claims to have a network of alumni and supporters in 60 countries. Such influence over government disturbs Ukrainian Jews, especially when the school`s name has become synonymous with Ukrainian anti-Semitism today. Yet the criticism seems to have had little effect on the school and its president, Georgy Schokin. Schokin earlier this year founded a political party, the Conservative Party of Ukraine, that`s preparing for parliamentary elections in the spring. Besides his friendship with figures such as Duke, Schokin and his school are said to maintain close ties to a number of Muslim countries, particularly Saudi Arabia and Iran. In fact, the school`s reputation is precisely what appeals to some of MAUP`s foreign students. In an interview with JTA, 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.”