Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said on Sunday that Israel has a “moral duty” to allow in more non-Jewish refugees fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, following criticism of the government’s refugee policy that limited entry into the country to 25,000 Ukrainians not eligible for Israeli citizenship.
Also on Sunday, Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked announced her ministry was “relaxing” the policy for refugees escaping the Russian invasion.
Shaked’s announcement came after Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk said Ukraine was backing a petition to the High Court against the older policy.
“We won’t close our gates and our hearts to those who lost everything,” Lapid said during a visit to the Romanian-Ukraine border. “In Israel there are nine millions residents and our Jewish identity won’t be harmed by a few more thousand refugees.”
While Lapid conceded that “it’s impossible to allow in refugees without limit,” he said Israel could be much “much more generous” regarding the refugees.
People lift placards and Ukrainian flags during a protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, outside the Knesset building in Jerusalem, on February 28, 2022. (AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty)
“The government will find this balance,” he said.
“What is unforgivable and unacceptable are the mistakes that were made in dealing with refugees who already arrived in Israel,” he said. “The scenes of an old woman and her daughter sleeping on the floor at Ben Gurion Airport must not be repeated.”
More than 1.5 million of Israel’s 9.3 million citizens are from Russia and Ukraine. Some 200,000 Ukrainians are eligible to immigrate to Israel. According to Israel’s Law of Return, any individual with at least one Jewish grandparent is eligible for Israeli citizenship. So far, roughly 8,000 Ukrainians have arrived among which 2,000 are eligible for citizenship. There are an additional 20,000 in the country illegally from before the war.
The new policy would require Ukrainians to commit to leaving once the current crisis ends.
Opponents to the old policy said Shaked was acting out of “nationalistic motives” and fears that allowing the refugees in would dilute Israel’s character as a Jewish state.
Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi David Lau said Israel should accept refugees from Ukraine “that don’t find another country.”
Members of Jewish community chat in the Chabad Synagogue in Odessa on March 9, 2022, 14 days after Russia launched a military invasion on Ukraine. Forced yet again into exile, as so many times in their tormented history, Jews are leaving in droves, threatening the last traces of a once-vibrant culture. (BULENT KILIC/AFP via Getty Images)
“Until they can return to their homes,” he told Kan public radio according to a translation by the Times of Israel, “so there won’t be a situation in which a person flees the hostility and has nowhere to go, no safe harbor.”
“First of all, open the door.”
Israel has been acting as mediator between Ukraine and Russia and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has proposed Jerusalem host a peace summit between Moscow and Kyiv. Bennett and Zelensky have spoken several times since the Russian invasion.
Bennett has also spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin and made a lightening trip to Moscow earlier this month to meet with the Russian leader.
In a joint briefing with his Slovakian counterpart Ivan Korčok in Bratislava, Lapid on Monday vowed that Israel would not be used as “a route to bypass sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States and other western countries.”
Israeli evacuees from Ukraine are reunited with their families in Jerusalem after being flown home from neighbouring Romania following a harrowing escape overland through the war zone (AFP)
Israel has been ambivalent in its stance about the Russia-Ukraine war. As an ally of both Russia and Ukraine, it has been cautious about taking sides. Russia also has heavy military presence in Syria and controls its skies and as such, Jerusalem coordinates all military strikes on Iranian targets in Syria with Moscow.
While Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid condemned Russia’s invasion as a “breach of the international order,” the country has stopped short of offering military assistance or directly condemning Russia.
On Sunday, Lapid doubled down on his criticism during a three-day visit to Bucharest to discuss the crisis, saying “Israel condemns the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” for which there is “no justification.”
While Kyiv has ostensibly praised Israel’s willingness to act as mediator, it has also criticized Jerusalem’s refusal to send military aid as well as its reluctance in choosing a side.
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