Israel seeks to contain flood of Ukrainian refugees
Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked announced yesterday a framework plan for welcoming 5,000 Ukrainian refugees and for temporarily regularizing some 20,000 Ukrainian nationals residing in Israel mostly illegally.
Israel's Minister of Interior Ayelet Shaked called a press conference March 8 to announce a plan put together by her ministry to absorb refugees fleeing the war in their country. She opened her remarks by saying, “The sights of the war in Ukraine and the suffering of its citizens are terrifying and do not allow us to remain indifferent. These difficult events also have a direct impact on the State of Israel, which is currently preparing to absorb, according to estimates, about 100,000 Jews and those entitled to the Law of Return and their family members fleeing the battle zones.”
She continued, “It should be obvious that the State of Israel cannot continue to take in Ukrainian citizens almost without limit.”
As mentioned by Shaked, any person with a Jewish grandparent is eligible to become an Israeli citizen. Then, there is the issue of Ukrainian non-Jews seeking asylum in Israel. According to Shaked, Israel will play temporary host to 20,000 Ukrainian nationals, who were in the country well before the war broke out, most of them illegally, and will not take steps to expel them. Shaked used the words "most of them illegally" without any additional explanation. Furthermore, Shaked set a cap of 5,000 non-Jewish Ukrainian citizens who will be allowed to enter Israel while the war is being fought. Once the cap of 5,000 is reached, every Ukrainian citizen who leaves the country can be replaced by another Ukrainian seeking asylum, provided that they fill in an online form on the Foreign Ministry website and obtain an entrance permit. Should they fail to do this, they will be deported.
The 5,000 non-Jewish Ukrainians who arrive in Israel will receive a three-month temporary visa. If the situation in Ukraine has not improved by then, they will be allowed to work in Israel. Since the start of the Russian war on Ukraine, and even before, Israeli employers or relatives were required to provide a bank guarantee at the airport. That procedure will be suspended. The sponsors will simply file a form stating their assurance that their Ukrainian guest will leave Israel as soon as the war is over.
