In Israel, it turns out it is easier to make it into the country as a Ukrainian refugee ineligible to immigrate according to the Law of Return than it is to make aliyah from Ukraine.
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While the State of Israel has opened its gates to Ukrainian citizens, over 10,000 people are now waiting in countries bordering Ukraine for approval to make aliyah.
By Thursday afternoon, Israel had taken in 7,437 Ukrainians ineligible to immigrate in accordance with the Law of Return since the outbreak of the war. By contrast, just 3,695 new immigrants eligible for aliyah have arrived. In other words, for every new immigrant to the country, Israel has taken in two Ukrainian refugees. Jewish refugees from Ukraine are living out of suitcases in Poland, Romania, Hungary, and Moldova – some of them under difficult conditions at refugee centers – as they wait to make aliyah. In addition, another 5,000 Jewish refugees from Ukraine have continued on to Western European countries – Germany in particular – some due to the lengthy waiting period for aliyah authorization and others due to the benefits offered by Germany.
The above findings were taken from Jewish Agency data collected from around 7,000 Jewish refugees from Ukraine now staying in 18 different hotels the agency rented out from them in Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Moldova, as well as on the basis of findings on around 3,000 Jewish refugees from Moldova and Germany and staying at facilities operated by local Jewish communities, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, and the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.
Israel came to understand the problematic situation just four days ago, and following pressure from the Jewish Agency and other aliyah organizations, launched an operation to speed up the aliyah process for immigrants from Ukraine. Normally, the process to ascertain whether an entire family is eligible to make aliyah takes around an hour. Now, instead of checking whether all family members are eligible, representatives of Nativ, which serves as a liaison to Jewish communities in the former Soviet Union under the supervision of the Prime Minister's Office, ascertain whether the family has immediate family in Israel, whether their eligibility has already been examined, and whether one of their children has taken part in a Taglit-Birthright, Masa Israel Journey, or Naale program. If they have, the family receives an entry permit to Israel. Such a process takes 15 minutes instead of one hour.
Israel provides the refugees with health insurance upon their arrival in Israel and the Israel Defense Forces' Home Front Command along with the Immigration and Integration Ministry houses them in a hotel for two weeks. Over these two weeks, Nativ representatives continue to ascertain their eligibility for aliyah, after which, if they are found eligible, they are granted new immigrant status.
"We've enlisted in the effort, and it was decided that Jewish Agency employees would also assist Nativ's people in the initial verification process," Jewish Agency Chief Operating Officer Yehuda Setton and the head of the organization's Ukraine operation, said. "Four of our people have already arrived in Moldova to try and release the bottleneck there. In Poland, we've managed to reach a kind of equilibrium where the pace of entry of Jewish refugees is equivalent to that of the pace of immigrants. In Poland, a majority of the Jewish refugees make aliyah within 72 hours to at most a week. In Romania, the pace of immigration was too slow, and people were waiting up to two weeks before making aliyah. I hope that now, with the new model of 'express aliyah' and the addition of two consuls, the situation in Romania will improve."
In Hungary, Setton added, "There are slightly more Jewish refugees entering than leaving, and early next week, we will increase the pace there as well. In Moldova, there is a very large gap between the speed of entry and exit. There, around 300 people arrive every day but only 200 leave, and I hope that there, too, the new model will improve the situation. Either that or people will go to Romania in the meantime, where at hotels we rented out we can provide them with more comfortable living conditions than those that exist in some of the refugee centers in Moldova."
At the outset of the war, the Israeli Consulate in Moldova issued visas at a rate of around 30 immigration visas a day. To contend with the wave of Jewish refugees and the shortage of places to stay in the Moldovan capital of Chisinau, efforts have been ramped up so that three consulates have succeeded in issuing some 90 visas a day. With the easing of further conditions in the process, the daily rate has reached around 150 visas a day in recent days.
"It's still not enough. We are constantly taking in more and more refugees whose situation is worse, in particular the elderly," Uri Livshitz, who coordinates the integration of Jewish refugees at the Agudath Israel Synagogue in Chisinau, said.
"I can't understand how the State of Israel succeeded in bringing thousands of Jews from Ethiopia at one time in spectacular operations but leaves us to deal with the madness going on here alone. What's the problem with landing a big plane here and getting everyone out at once? Why do elderly people who have lost everything need to wait here on mattresses for two weeks and more? he asked.
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