Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked said on Sunday that 90% of the Ukrainian refugees entering Israel are ineligible [for Israeli citizenship] under the Law of Return.
“Since the war broke out, 2,034 Ukrainians have entered Israel and the rate is going up,” Shaked said. “On Wednesday, 351 Ukrainians entered Israel, on Thursday, 521 entered, and over the weekend, 605 entered the country.”
“According to this data and the increase rate, we’re on the way to absorbing 15,000 Ukrainians by the end of the month, 90% of whom are ineligible [for Israeli citizenship] under the Law of Return.”
“Every sensible person understands that it’s impossible to continue with such an entry rate and therefore I intend to formulate a more balanced policy in the coming days.”
Shaked added that it seems that Israel has absorbed the most Ukrainians of all Western countries that don’t share a border with Ukraine since the war began.
“The state of Israel, contrary to what they say in the media, allows a broader policy than almost all Western countries that cannot be reached by land crossing from Ukraine,” Shaked asserted. “There’s no other country in the world that doesn’t have visa exemptions that allow for a broad policy like Israel. For example, the policy in Canada, New Zealand, the US, and the UK is to not allow boarding the plane without a visa.”
It should be noted that many Ukrainians who are eligible for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return are not Jewish since the law includes anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent.
Left-wing ministers in the government are fighting Shaked against imposing limits on Ukrainian refugees.
Oren Henig, the director of the Liba Center, slammed the absorption of Ukrainian refugees into Israel: “The situation in which the state of Israel is bringing in tens of thousands of non-Jews from Ukraine without controls – with all the desire for compassion and understanding – is the continuation of the dissolution of the state as a state for Jews. It’s no wonder that there are ministers who are calling for rapid conversion.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
3 Responses
That makes sense. Jews living in Ukraine who were at all interested in moving to Israel (and in living a Torah-oriented life) have long since immigrated. That also means that Jews with a strong interest in maintaining a Jewish community left the country over a generation ago. Once a community has given up on Shabbos and Kashrus, they tend to integrate with the local non-Jewish population. Remember its been 30 years that there have been no barrier to Jews leaving Ukraine, and that a traditional Jewish community hasn’t existed there for over a century. If you want to see loads of Benei Torah coming off the plane from Ukraine, you really need a time machine.
The leaders of the medinah are probably hoping for a large migration of non-Jews to offset the natural increase of the frum community.
What’s the issue, didn’t Matan Kahana make them all Jewish in advance?
Israel is a gentile state.