Israel’s selective reception of Ukrainian refugees

First, it was a resounding no. But the images from the airport caused a stir and the interior minister, the conservative Ayelet ShakedHe modified his refusal. The new policy forced Ukrainian refugees to pay a deposit of 10,000 shekels, almost 3,000 euros, and promise that in a month they would leave Israel. Soon these new instructions were also shot down. Shaked established a maximum humanitarian quota than 5,000 non-Jewish refugees. Only those with family or friends in Israel can stay in the country without being part of this number.

In some cases, they are made to sign a document committing to leave the country once the situation in Ukraine allows it. “Israel defines itself as the national home of the Jews and the citizenry wants this aspect to be maintained; therefore, there is this fear of letting in non-jewish ukrainians that make us lose the legitimacy of calling it the Jewish State”, explains Yedidia Sternthe president of People’s Policy Institute Jewish. Israel grows – and exists – thanks to the aliyahthe process by which Jews can obtain Israeli citizenship.

תושבי ג’בל מוכבר מפגינים ככת מול עיריית ירושלים בדרישה לצצור את התוככית הנרחבת להריסת בתים בכפר.
התמונה הזו מספרת במידה רבה את הסיפור כולו: דורות של פלסטינים במזרח ירושלים צריכים להיאבק לאורך שנים על כל זכות בסיסית ביותר, ובראשן הזכות לקורת הגג שעל ראשם. בושה לנו. pic.twitter.com/Ma214qrNI4

— Orly Noy مژگان نوى (@NoyOrly) February 28, 2022

The Law of Return allows people born Jewish, along with their spouses, or someone with at least one Jewish grandparent to immigrate to Israel, to “make aliyah.” In Ukraine, there is a community of 200,000 Jews, 200,000 Ukrainians who can emigrate to the Hebrew state with little hindrance. The Jewish Agency, in charge of helping with the process, has inaugurated the program “Aliyah Express” to alleviate bureaucracy in this typically lengthy process, something never seen before.

After more than a month of offensive, at least 15,000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Israel, only a third of whom are Jews. Much of the population has shown scandalized seeing the efforts of his government to close the doors to them. “The muscle of nationalism he acted with great force at the beginning since the humanitarian was not prepared for this situation,” Stern tells EL PERIÓDICO. “But the fear is unfounded because these numbers, which we hope will double, are totally irrelevant, there is no real threat”, he adds.

The role of mediator that Israel is playing in the conflict earned him a rebuke from the Ukrainian president. “Our people are now scattered all over the world; are looking for safety, a place to stay in peace, as once you searchedVolodymyr recalled. Zelensky, also Jewish, to the members of the Knesset. The political use of Holocaust on the part of the Ukrainian generated some discomfort. Many have argued that the lesson of the Holocaust is the need for a Jewish homeland to be protected.

Ukraine was once home to a large and prosperous Jewish population but it also became the scene of widespread pogroms at the beginning of the last century. Some of the worst mass murders of the Holocaust occurred there. “My grandparents died in Ukraine because they did not receive help,” Stern confesses. “What world do we want to leave to our children if we, the grandchildren of refugees, deny help to the Ukrainians?” he wonders. “The lesson of the Holocaust is another, it is based on the importance of help others”, he concludes.

Beyond this debate, the arrival of Jewish refugees has also generated other tensions on the other side of the Green Line. And it is that some of the Ukrainians have found their refuge in the illegal settlements of the occupied West Bank. They have become refugees occupying the land of other refugees, the Palestinians. Activists and analysts denounce how the State of Israel and, above all, the settler organizations –who have traveled to the Ukrainian borders armed with pamphlets from the colonies–, is instrumentalizing the presence of these people in the country for its demographic objectives.

“It is as if the state said: «we are ready to save you while we can use you in our population war“”, writes Raef Zreik in ‘+972 Magazine’. “The body of the Jewish refugee thus becomes a weapon against the Palestinians,” he adds. Furthermore, this demand for the immediate return of Ukrainian refugees to their country is contradictory to historical obstacles to return of Palestinian refugees. The formalities “to discourage [a los refugiados ucranianos] to stay long-term indicate that, for Israel, refugee status is supposed to end the moment the danger passes,” he says. Orly Noy in the same outlet, “this, of course, applies only to refugees whose flight Israel itself is not responsible for.”

תושבי ג’בל מוכבר מפגינים ככת מול עיריית ירושלים בדרישה לצצור את התוככית הנרחבת להריסת בתים בכפר.
התמונה הזו מספרת במידה רבה את הסיפור כולו: דורות של פלסטינים במזרח ירושלים צריכים להיאבק לאורך שנים על כל זכות בסיסית ביותר, ובראשן הזכות לקורת הגג שעל ראשם. בושה לנו. pic.twitter.com/Ma214qrNI4

— Orly Noy مژگان نوى (@NoyOrly) February 28, 2022

To the five million palestinian refugees scattered across the planet since 1948 they are not allowed to return to their land. “When it comes to Palestinian refugees, Israel will prevent their return at all costs, slam doors in their faces and forever determine the refugee status of their children and grandchildren,” insists noy. Crammed into luxurious airports or in dreary fields, refugees are dispossessed and uprooted wherever they are. The refuge is an infinite wait that, for some, may soon end. Meanwhile, the Palestinians they will take with them the keys of their houses in case one day the dream of return comes true.