Escape after Russian attack
Israel ready for Jewish immigrants from Ukraine
02/24/2022, 11:31 am
Ukraine has a large Jewish community, around 43,000 Jews live in the country. Now that, in addition to Russian airstrikes, there have also been reports of the use of ground troops in eastern Ukraine, the foreign ministry in Jerusalem is advising Israeli citizens to leave the country.
In view of the intensification of the Ukraine conflict, Israel is preparing to take in many members of the local Jewish community. “We are ready to accept thousands of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine,” said Immigration Minister Pnina Tamano-Schata, according to a spokesman. She spoke accordingly at a conference of presidents of large Jewish organizations from the USA. Israel is ready to provide immediate humanitarian aid, she says.
The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem has urged Israeli citizens in Ukraine to leave the state immediately overland and head west. Israeli embassies have sent representatives to major border crossings in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania.
Around 43,000 Jews live in Ukraine
Israel had previously expressed concern about the situation in Ukraine, also referring to the large Jewish community in the country. There has probably been one in Kiev since the 10th century. To this day, numerous Jewish people live there and in other large cities such as Lviv and Odessa. In 2019, Volodymyr Zelenskyi became the first person of Jewish descent to be appointed President of Ukraine.
In recent years, the Ukraine has always been one of the countries from which the most immigrants came to Israel – sometimes more than 7,000 people a year. According to the Jewish Agency, around 43,000 Jews currently live in Ukraine. The number of those who could immigrate to Israel because of Jewish relatives is around 200,000. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, around 15,000 Israelis live in Ukraine. As the radio reported, around 2,500 Israelis left the country last week.