15,000 Ukrainian Refugees Could Enter Israel by End of March

Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked on Monday said she will review the country’s immigration policy, with 15,000 Ukrainian refugees possibly entering Israel by the end of the month, 90% of whom are not eligible to be included under the Law of Return.

“Israel is the Western country without a land border with Ukraine that has absorbed the most Ukrainians per capita since the outbreak of fighting,” she said on Sunday at the weekly Cabinet meeting.

Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk on Monday called on Israel to do more to take in Ukrainian refugees.

“So far, European countries have absorbed 1.5 Ukrainians and we believe Israel will show such solidarity as well,” he said, adding: “Western countries have imposed sanctions on Russia. I ask Israeli businesses to take an example from international and American companies and do the same.”

Israel is already planning and prepared to take in as many 100,000 Jews and their extended families from Russia and Ukraine who are eligible for citizenship under the Law of Return, which Shaken said, was already going to prove a “very great challenge.”

“Contrary to what is being said in the media, the State of Israel has a broader policy than almost any Western country that does not share a land border with Ukraine,” Shaked added. “No country in the world that doesn’t have a visa exemption has as broad a policy as Israel. … We need to focus and be prepared accordingly and deal with the number of humanitarian cases that we will decide on in the coming days.”

Other countries, including the United States and Canada, do not allow people from most other places to board a plane to them without a visa.

The decision to let in refugees has sparked a public debate, including in the upper echelons of the government, with some ministers saying it is Israel’s responsibility to take in the refugees—no matter how many—and others believing that the number must be capped to preserve Israel’s Jewish character.

“We need to stop breast-beating and shouting, ‘We are guilty; we have been wronged; we have sinned,” said Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Sunday. “We did not blame. We have not sinned. We were not wronged. We are fine.”

He highlighted Israel’s strong humanitarian response to the situation, including sending tens of thousands of dollars in aid and medical teams to the borders, in addition to absorbing Jewish refugees.

“The role of the State of Israel is to absorb those entitled by the Law of Return,” Sa’ar stressed. “There is no reason for the national masochism reflected in the discourse.”

Diaspora Minister Nachman Shai, who left on Monday for a visit with his Polish counterpart, also called on the country to “cancel the inhuman and immoral 10,000-shekel deposit demand from Ukrainian refugees.”

He said that “it automatically restricts the entry of refugees to Israel who do not have relatives and do not have the means to meet this demand.”