More than two thousand people fleeing the war have already joined the Hebrew state preparing to host 100,000 Jews, from Ukraine but also from Russia, eligible for citizenship under the return law.
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The state machine was marked. Just returned from his diplomatic trip to Moscow, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, hosted, Sunday, March 6 at Tel Aviv David-Ben-Gurion airport, a first flight of Ukrainian refugees, organized by his office. He carried a hundred Jewish orphans who transited by Romania. Later in the day, two other flights chartered by the Ministry of Alya, Jewish immigration in Israel, took more than 200 other Ukrainians. In particular, they are originating in Odessa, a city of Jewish high culture threatened by the Russian army, whose name resonates powerfully into the Israeli imagination.
On their own, some 2,000 Ukrainians fleeing the war have already joined Israel, according to the Minister of the Interior, Ayelet Shaked. Russian-speaking groups on Facebook, usually dedicated to the resale of furniture and mutual assistance, reveal an impressive collective effort in favor of these newcomers. The Israeli state expects much more. According to M me Shaked, they could be 15,000 in the month. His department prepares to welcome 100,000 Ukrainian Jews, but also Russians, eligible for citizenship under the 1950 Return Act. A significant wave, for a country with about 15% of citizens from immigration. ‘former USSR, and for whom the violent history of Ukraine in the XX e is the intimate memory.
Blinder the doors of the synagogues
For the time being, the signals from Russia remain limited. Last week, the Jewish agency, which is responsible for organizing Alya, received some 5,000 calls from Russians in search of information – just 5% more than before the war. However, the effect of sanctions and the current transformation of their country in condition should soon be felt. From Ukraine, the Jewish agency received more than 4,000 requests during the first week of conflict.
It strives to help Ukrainian communities to protect their institutions: 2 million euros should strengthen or blinder doors and windows of synagogues, and install surveillance cameras. Satellite phones have been distributed to rabbis and community leaders. Thirty agency employees still work in the country, from home.
The reception of non-Jewish refugees
The Israeli authorities are looking to charter buses to help those who want to flee. They dispatched reinforcements to borders and consulates in Poland, Moldova, Romania, Hungary. In total, some 200,000 Ukrainians are potentially eligible for Alya, from disparate communities, little related to each other, based mainly in Kiev, Kharkiv and Odessa.
Beyond the fate of these communities, the reception of non-Jewish refugees arouses a painful debate in Israel. Sunday, the Minister of the Interior, M me Shaked, estimated that almost 10% of the first arrivals were not eligible for citizenship – without ancestry or ties sufficiently close to the Jewish community. Dissensions are expressed, within the Government, on the need to abandon the deposit of 2,800 euros that the law still imposes on all Israeli who wishes to welcome a non-Jewish Ukrainian parent, by committing to what He leaves after a month.