100 Ukrainian immigrants arrive in Israel on rescue flight
A group of 100 elderly Ukrainian Jews immigrated to Israel, landing at Ben Gurion Airport on Wednesday night.
Ukrainian immigrants arrive at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel on Dec. 21, 2022. Photo by Yossi Zelinger
The new arrivals underscored Israeli figures showing the highest rate of immigration in almost a quarter-century.
The flight included several passengers who are bed-bound and had been waiting for months to move to Israel.
Among the new arrivals was 76-year-old Ella Smirnova, who fled her home in Odessa, where she lived her whole life. As she was preparing for the Rosh Hashanah holiday in September, she fell, broke her neck, and was completely paralysed.
“I’m totally handicapped and limited to my bed, so this war has added to my feeling of helplessness, and I didn’t see a way out. When the air raid sirens went off, the only thing I could think to do was try and hide under the bedsheet and the only way I would be able to save myself is if someone came along to help me,” Smirnova said.
The flight was made possible by the efforts of the Jewish Agency, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ), the Joint Distribution Committee and ZAKA.
Staff from the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption were on hand at the airport to help the new arrivals. Many spent their first night in Israel in the homes of relatives. Others stayed at hotels arranged by the ministry.
A spokesperson for the IFCJ told the Tazpit Press Service that this rescue flight was supposed to take place last week, but more time was needed because of the medical needs of some of the passengers and because so many organisations were involved.
“This flight of 100 people evacuated from the warzone is very emotional, particularly in these days of Chanukah as it is a modern symbol of the heroism of the weak over the mighty,” said Dovi Weissenstern, CEO of the ZAKA emergency response organisation.
“The sad reality is that most of the world has become complacent with the war in Ukraine while our teams are still working in the field at all times in cooperation with other organisations. Every day we’re assisting Holocaust survivors, the elderly, and people who have been injured in the shelling,” Weissenstern noted.
Over 70,000 immigrants arrived in Israel this year, the highest figure in 23 years and more than double the number from last year. According to the Jewish Agency, almost three-quarters of this year’s immigrants came from either Russia, Ukraine or Belarus.
Another 1,500 immigrants came from Ethiopia. Efforts to complete the airlift of Ethiopian Jews in recent years have been complicated by Israel’s political paralysis, budget issues, the COVID pandemic and a civil war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.
An additional 3,500 Jews immigrated from North America, 2,049 from France, 985 from Argentina, 526 from Britain, 426 from South Africa and 356 from Brazil.
J-Wire understands around 245 Australians and 15 New Zealanders made Aliya in 2022.
According to the Jewish Agency, those figures mark a return to pre-COVID rates.
