Israelis in Ukraine don’t seem to be panicking about the predicted Russian invasion of the country despite Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s call on Sunday to come home “while you still can.”

Bennett wants to evacuate as many Israelis as possible by Tuesday after the Biden administration warned Israel that Russia may invade Ukraine within days.

Dozens of flights have been scheduled to leave Ukraine to Israel in the next week, including 10 over the next two days, but flights from Ukraine to Israel have empty seats, Kan News reported on Sunday.

At the same time, Channel 12 News reported that Israelis were seen in Ben-Gurion Airport on Sunday morning waiting for flights to Ukraine.

That being said, there are hundreds of Israelis that did fly back to Israel. Ronen Boker, an Israeli who returned to Ukraine on Sunday, told Ynet that “Ukraine’s media reports are not indicating imminent war. Maybe local Ukrainians are ignoring the danger or perhaps the media is misreporting.”

Dima Kuperman, who returned to Israel on Sunday after a ski trip in Ukraine, said: “There’s some tension on the streets but nothing major. There’s more concern in Israel than in Kiev and any pressure I had came from listening to news from home and not from the local media.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)