Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked caved in to heavy pressure, both from her fellow coalition members and those outside the government, and significantly broadened the number of non-Jewish Ukrainian refugees Israel will accept.

In a press conference at Ben-Gurion Airport on Sunday night, Shaked announced that anyone fleeing Ukraine who has relatives in Israel will not be included in the quota of 25,000 non-Jewish refugees whom Israel will accept.

“I suggest to all the critics, go to Terminal 1 [in Ben-Gurion Airport] and see how hundreds of new immigrants arrive each day,” Shaked said. “Today, 450 arrived. These are refugees who are eligible under the Law of Return who also escaped the war and we’re absorbing them and naturalizing them.”

“Despite everyone who attacks and criticizes, I’m not forgetting that the state of Israel is first and foremost the national home of the Jewish people. And we’ll invest most of our efforts in those entitled to immigrate under the Law of Return who are arriving here in droves. No other country is dealing with so much immediate absorption.”

Israel is preparing to absorb hundreds of thousands of immigrants who are eligible for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)