Magen David Adom UK and ‘Angel of Mostar’ orphan rescue praised in parliament
Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he is 'grateful' for SNP leader Ian Blackford's support over the operation
The largest airlift of child refugees from Ukraine – an operation involving British humanitarian Sally Becker and the UK branch of Israel’s medical emergency service – has been praised in the House of Commons.
Ian Blackford, leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) in Westminster, told MPs during Wednesday’s Prime Ministers Question Time that as he spoke an aircraft had left Heathrow to bring 50 orphans back to Scotland from Warsaw, Poland.
The MP told the Commons the children “that have left Ukraine are coming to spend the next period of their lives in Scotland with the sanctuary that we can offer them.”
Blackford then praised both the Immigration Minister Kevin Foster and Lord Harrington, the Minister for Refugees, for their assistance, saying they had “helped to ensure we can offer a new start to the people away from the war.”
The Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was “grateful” for the SNP leader in the Commons own support over the rescue.
Blackford said there was a “generosity of spirit” in Scotland to “welcome refugees.”
Most of the 52 youngsters, aged two to 15, were taken to safety to Poland from the war in Ukraine by Dnipro Kids, a charity established by fans of Scottish football club Hibernian that supports orphanages in Ukraine, after the invasion by Russia.
Another 20 children from the same city were last week taken over the border by Sally Becker, who became known as the Angel of Mostar in the early 1990s for her work evacuating injured youngsters and even arranging ceasefires in Bosnia.
TV judge Robert Rinder had heard about the orphans plight while broadcasting from the border last week. This led to Magen David Adom UK contacting Virgin Atlantic CEO Shai Weiss and within hours the airline had committed to fly the group to the UK.
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