‘You are safe now’ – 90 Jewish orphans who fled Ukraine arrive in Israel
The group who fled Ukraine after Russia invaded last month are part of a special operation to rescue some 300 Jews from the fighting.
Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and other cabinet ministers were on hand at Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday to greet a group of 90 Jewish orphans who fled Ukraine after Russia invaded last month.
El Al, Israel’s largest airline, said the flight was part of a special operation to rescue some 300 Jews from the fighting in Ukraine.
The airline said Ukrainian-speaking staff were on board the flight to assist. Some of the orphans have family members who are still in fighting areas, it added.
Bennett, who was accompanied by Immigration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata, entered the aircraft to welcome the children, introducing himself to one boy by saying, “I am Naftali, prime minister of Israel. Would you like to come into Israel?”
90 ילדים מבית הילדים בז’טומיר נחתו עכשיו בישראל. התרגשתי לקבל את פניהם ואמרתי להם – אתם בטוחים עכשיו, הגעתם לחוף מבטחים.
כשעמדתי לצד גילת בנתב”ג צפיתי בילדים נכנסים בשער. ראיתי בעיניים שלהם את התלאות שעברו. pic.twitter.com/hMc9q5ndwM
— Naftali Bennett בנט (@naftalibennett) March 6, 2022
“We are now seeing children immigrating to Israel. It is the most moving thing there is,” Bennett told media at the bottom of the steps from the plane as the children disembarked.
He later tweeted that he had told the children, “You are safe now, you have reached safe shores.”
The children fled the city of Zhytomyr and with the help of local Chabad groups last week crossed the border to Romania and then stayed in the city of Cluj-Napoca, the Walla news site reported. From there they flew to Israel. Chabad, a Hasidic organisation that works to maintain Jewish life around the world, has branches in both Ukraine and Romania.
Roni Shabtai, Israel’s consul in Romania, told Walla last week that the children, the eldest of whom was around 12 and the youngest just two, walked 400 meters through the snow in below-freezing temperatures in order to cross the border.
He said Israeli officials, including himself, met the orphans at the border.
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