According to a Sunday report, a Ukrainian family that fled the Russian invasion and arrived in Israel was denied entry into Poland and faces expulsion.
Andrei and Maria Kohil and their 10-year-old son Vadislav were being held in a detention area at Ben Gurion airport after they arrived on Saturday, Walla news site reports.
The Population, Immigration and Border Authority said they were concerned that the family intended to stay in Israel permanently rather than sit out the war.
The family came to Israel in hopes of joining Andrei’s brother, Yurislav, who has been in Israel since 2017 and has been working without a visa, although he has legally applied for permission to work. The report said that border controls denied entry to the family for fear that they too would be staying illegally.
The family had moved from Poland to Israel and were to be deported on Monday. The report said that they are appealing against the move.
The family’s lawyer, Tamir Belnik, told Vala: “They have no intention of taking root here, but they want to stay here temporarily because of the dangerous situation in their homeland.” “They came to Israel as an anchor of stability and in the hope that they would find temporary peace here.”
A Ukrainian man rides his bicycle near a factory and a shop after the bombing in Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenati)
Belnick said the authorities were ignoring the fact that the family had “run away because of the war and, in practice, have nowhere to return, apart from being destitute refugees in Poland.”
“Is it fair that Poland takes in a million refugees and Israel is unwilling to accept even a few hundred?” He asked.
He said there are ways to ensure the family doesn’t last longer than necessary and that the authorities should show some “humanity, sensitivity and compassion” to Ukrainians.
He said expelling the family would only make them “somebody else’s problem”.
The Population, Immigration and Border Authority said in a statement that Yurislav had been working illegally in Israel for five years and that his request for legal status was rejected.
“In light of that, and along with the fact that there is a concern that family members are targeted to have roots in Israel, a decision was made to deny them entry,” the authority said.
Israeli and Ukrainian refugees arrive from Ukraine on a rescue flight that landed at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv on March 3, 2022. (Avshalom Sasoni/Flash 90)
The report said Andrei works for a commercial transportation company, Maria is a dental assistant by trade, and the family has two apartments separated from their home.
Army Radio reported Sunday that the Population, Immigration and Border Authority said 2,034 Ukrainians had arrived in Israel since the start of Russia’s invasion, of whom 112 were denied entry into the country.
According to Israel’s Law of Return, Jews and their children, grandchildren and spouses are eligible for citizenship.
According to a 2020 demographic study by a European jury, there are approximately 43,300 people in Ukraine who identify as Jews and about 200,000 eligible to immigrate to Israel under its law of return for Jews and their relatives.
Immigration Minister Panina Tamano-Shata said she expects tens of thousands of people to emigrate to Israel in the coming months in light of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Jewish agency, which facilitates immigration to Israel, said it has received thousands of immigration requests from Ukraine in the past week and a half, since the start of the Russian invasion, more than it normally receives during the entire year. is far more. Israeli officials have predicted a similar jump in immigration from Russia.
Last week, Interior Minister Aylette Sheik said the government was preparing for a wave tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine and Russia.
Last week, Israel tried to send back As reported by Channel 12, 14 Ukrainian immigrants said they were not eligible to enter under the law of return, but relented after pressing against the move.
Israel has rarely granted refugee status to non-Jews in the past, and has not granted it to the thousands of asylum seekers from Africa who arrived in the mid-2000s.
Thousands of Ukrainian asylum seekers came to israel After the 2014 war with Russia. Most came as tourists and tried to live as refugees, but few were actually granted refugee status.
The government has required certain Ukrainian refugees to submit to ensure that they will leave Israel when their visas expire. Overseas Minister Nachman Shai and Ukraine’s ambassador to Israel both criticized the move,
