Lazar Berman is the diplomatic reporter for The Times of Israel.
KYIV – Ukraine has not yet decided its policy related to the annual Jewish pilgrimage to the Ukrainian city of Uman Rosh Hashanah, Israel’s envoy to Ukraine told The Times of Israel.
“Nothing has been yet,” Brodsky said, speaking Thursday at his Kyiv hotel before returning to Warsaw with embassy staff.
“Whatever they decide, we will comply with it,” the ambassador continued. “And we sense his concerns, that’s for sure. “
Earlier this month, the Ukrainian embassy in Israel issued a statement saying that, due to the ongoing war, all tourists are prohibited from staying in the country and that Jewish New Year celebrations, which are celebrated this year in September expired, were “uncertain. “
Ukraine’s ambassador to Israel, Yevgen Korniychuk, told ultra-Orthodox media that the country “cannot guarantee the protection of pilgrims” because of the Russian offensive, and called on the ultra-Orthodox network to “pray for Ukraine’s victory. “
Ukraine’s embassy in Israel told The Times of Israel on Friday that Kyiv’s position had not changed. “We will not guarantee the protection of pilgrims,” an embassy spokeswoman said.
Brodsky in Kyiv to temporarily open the embassy for a period of two weeks. He met with senior Ukrainian officials to discuss, among other things, his plans for the Uman pilgrimage.
“They wanted to ask us, and I wanted to know what the policy would be,” Brodsky explained. “They haven’t done anything yet, they want to prevent pilgrims from arriving this year, for their own safety. “
Israel should Kyiv make its own resolution on the issue and does not exert pressure. “I didn’t ask them for anything and I probably wouldn’t,” Brodsky insisted.
At the same time, Brodsky made clear what Israel’s preference is: “Under general circumstances, we are committed to the protection of Israelis. But under the existing circumstances, the embassy will not provide consular or other services.
“We strongly recommend that you come this year, for your own safety. “
Rabbi Nachman was an eighteenth-century luminary and founder of the Hasidic bratslav movement. The city of Uman, where the rabbi’s tomb is located, usually receives about 30,000 visitors, most of them from Israel, the holiday of Rosh Hashanah. More and more pilgrims are also arriving from other Jewish communities around the world.
Leaders of the Jewish network in Uman insisted that Uman is far from the front and that an arrangement for the pilgrimage can be found.
In addition to security concerns, Ukraine is logistically difficult, as airlines do not offer advertising flights to the country. The only way to enter the country is through a land border, through an exercise or by bus. The Moldovan border has the fastest direction to Uman. .
Even at the height of COVID-19 restrictions in 2020, ultra-Orthodox pilgrims were not discouraged and attempted to enter the country, despite warnings from the Ministry of Health. Thousands of Israelis flocked to Ukraine before Kyiv closed its borders in September to prevent an outbreak.
Thousands more then travelled to neighbouring Belarus to cross the border into Ukraine, but local authorities blocked their way.
In light of its security assessments, Israel still completely reopens its embassy in Kiev. Brodsky and his small team of diplomats arrived from Warsaw for two weeks to offer consular services, communicate with the press and meet with Ukrainian officials.
Many discussions have focused on the new bureaucracy of aid that Israel can offer to Ukraine. The parties are in the process of finalizing the main points of Israel’s acceptance of dozens of wounded Ukrainian infantrymen for widespread re-education in the country. A final resolution on this has not yet been taken the initiative, Brodsky said.
Israel is also discussing how to create a rehabilitation network in Ukraine for infantrymen and civilians to cope with physical and mental trauma.
Israel is sending an aid package that includes 1500 helmets, 1500 vests, piles of mine protection suits, 1000 fuel masks and dozens of dangerous fabric filtration systems for Ukrainian emergency services.
More than a hundred people, mostly Ukrainians of Israeli nationality, have visited the embassy in the past two weeks to register newborns, update passports and deal with consular problems similar to surrogacy.
The embassy will reopen in early August.
“It’s dangerous, there are alarms and rocket fire,” Brodsky said. “Everything is unstable, that’s the feeling. “
On Monday, Brodsky joined an organization of European ambassadors to Ukraine at the site of the fatal Russian missile attack on Vinnytsia last week.
– Michael Brodsky (@michael_brodsk) July 18, 2022
Although Israel has maintained an open channel of communication with Moscow and joined Western sanctions, Brodsky said that “condemnation of Russian aggression and votes at the UN are in line with Western positions. “We call it aggression and we call it war, morally, Israel is obviously aligned with the Western world. “
“It is no secret that other Ukrainians and Ukrainian leaders criticize the volume of aid provided through Israel and the lack of assistance from the army, even though Israel has provided unprecedented humanitarian aid,” Brodsky admitted.
One of the goals of the diplomatic team on this holiday was to protect Israel’s position before the Ukrainian public. A one-and-a-half-hour verbal exchange between Brodsky and presidential communications adviser Oleksit Arestovych garnered more than half a million views.
“On the same day, the rockets fell on Vinnytsia, the rockets fell on Ashkelon,” Brodsky said. support. I hope that most Ukrainians will perceive it better.
Senior Ukrainian officials, in addition to President Volodymyr Zelensky, have publicly criticized Israel for the curtaining point and diplomacy that Jerusalem has provided.
“Unfortunately, for the maximum of the aid we would like to receive from Israel, we say we have won this aid,” Zelensky told Hebrew University academics in June.
Korniychuk even more vehement in his criticisms. “While Russia is massacring our citizens, the Israeli government remains in its zone of convenience and refrains from offering Ukraine minimal defensive assistance,” he said last month.
Such statements worry Brodsky.
“Criticism is herbal in this situation,” he said. “I wouldn’t expect a full understanding from other people who are under threat. This is not a general situation. They’re stressed, they’re in a post-traumatic situation.
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