By: Fern Sidman
As the war that Russia has waged against Ukraine rages on, on Sunday, there was a bright spot of hope when 100 Ukrainian orphans who had fled their country arrived in Israel.
Landing at Ben Gurion airport in Lod, the orphans were greeted by Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, his wife Gilat and several government ministers, according to the report on INN.
Prime Minister Bennett said of his experience greeting the orphans who arrived in their new country: “I was excited to receive them and I told them ‘you are safe now, you have reached a safe place’. When I stood next to Gilat at Ben Gurion Airport, I watched the children enter the gate. I saw in their eyes the hardships they went through. The world as they know has changed in an instant. They have been fleeing battles and shelling for a week and a half, without parents, but with the wonderful Chabad emissaries who accompany them here.”
Organizing the flight was the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in Romania, which borders Ukraine. The flight is part of a larger operation to bring 300 Jewish refugees from Ukraine to Israel, as was reported by INN. There are two additional flights scheduled to bring the remaining refugees from the operation to Israel. The report indicated. Temporary housing for the orphans is also being arranged by Israel’s Immigration and Absorption Ministry who worked in tandem with Chabad to organize the flight.
Also at Ben Gurion airport for the greeting of the new immigrants was Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked. She was joined by the Director-General of the Population and Immigration Authority, Tomer Moskowitz, as well as the professional staff of the Immigration Authority, and together they went through the route that Ukrainian citizens go through, including the border control and questioning process, as was reported by INN.
Shaked commented: “Israel is currently doing the maximum possible. I call on all Western countries to open their doors to the absorption of citizens from Ukraine at least to the same degree that we have. The process at Ben Gurion Airport can take several hours, and I ask the people to be patient. The Population and Immigration Authority does its best to provide a pleasant experience and proper service, to receive them with great hospitality and at the same time to properly supervise the borders of the state.”
At a Sunday morning meeting on preparation that Israeli authorities are making for the arrival of new immigrants from Ukraine, MK Shaked said, “We are en route to 15,000 Ukrainians by the end of the month, 90% of whom are not eligible to be included under the Law of Return.”
The Israeli government press office said the minister reviewed the current situation regarding the entry of Ukrainian nationals to Israel, the situation of Israel in relation to other countries and preparations to absorb new immigrants from Ukraine.
Shaked added: “It needs to be said that Israel, contrary to all countries, is prepared for a very large wave, to absorb approximately 100,000 Jews and their extended family members who are eligible under the Law of Return, from both Ukraine and Russia. At the moment, Israel is uniquely ready to absorb and give citizenship to the most Ukrainian nationals in the world. There is no other country that absorbs and gives immediate citizenship. This is the very great challenge that awaits us vis-à-vis housing, employment and other areas. We need to focus and be prepared accordingly and deal with the number of humanitarian cases that we will decide on in the coming days.”
She added that: “Since the outbreak of the war, 2,034 Ukrainian nationals have entered Israel. We are on an upward trend. In the first days of the war, there were dozens of Ukrainians who came to Israel but if we look at the past three days:
On Wednesday, 351 Ukrainian nationals entered Israel. On Thursday, there were 521. Over the weekend, 605 Ukrainians entered the country. In the coming days, I intend to formulate a clear policy.
We are already dealing with 26,000 Ukrainian nationals present in Israel, most of whom are here without a legal status.” (Sources: GPO, INN)
