
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and his wife Gilat, along with several government ministers, arrived at Ben Gurion Airport Sunday afternoon and welcomed about 100 orphans from Ukraine who had fled the war in their 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,” the Prime Minister said.
The flight, organized by the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in Romania, is part of a larger operation to bring some 300 Jewish refugees from Ukraine to Israel.
Two additional flights are slated to bring the remaining refugees from the operation to Israel.
Israel’s Immigration and Absorption Ministry worked in conjunction with Chabad to organize the flights, and to streamline the immigration and absorption process for the new immigrants.
The Ministry will also arrange temporary housing for the new immigrants.
Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked likewise visited Ben Gurion Airport today (Sunday) together with the Director-General of the Population and Immigration Authority, Tomer Moskowitz, as well as th 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.
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.”
Source: Arutz Sheva
Header: People fleeing the conflict in Ukraine alk after crossing the Moldova-Ukraine border checkpoint near the town of Palanca, on March 2, 2022, seven days after Russia’ military invasion of Ukraine. – Nearly 875,000 people have fled Ukraine in total, the UN refugee agency said on march 2, 2022, with the number expected to rise. (Photo by Nikolay DOYCHINOV / AFP)