The organization of Israelis who arrived at Odessa airport in the early hours of Thursday included Arabs and Jews, a passenger.
“The Arabs were allowed to pass immediately, but when they saw with beards and headbands, they told them to wait,” Moshe Grisin said, according to Channel 12. “They began to lead us into one-on-one conversations; they searched after hearing us say “Uman” and then wouldn’t let us in. “
He said some 30 others had been detained at the airport for more than 12 hours without kosher food, prompting a man to faint, said they had been abused and had their phones removed when they were looking to film, other eyewitnesses said. some were held with barbed wire.
Grisin added that airport officials completed the bureaucracy on his behalf indicating that they were in a position to return to Israel.
Aher loyal, known through Channel 12 only as Dan, said the stage “remembers the Holocaust. We ask them why this anti-Semitism and they laugh at us. We’re like monkeys and the government cares. “
The Foreign Ministry said the Israeli embassy is working with the government to ensure that certain faithful are treated and provided with kosher food.
Later on Thursday, all travelers were allowed to enter Ukraine, supposedly after Netanyahu was involved.
A dozen more flights from Israel were scheduled to arrive in Ukraine on Thursday and Friday, before the radical access ban went into effect. The Twelfth Channel reported that two more flights would be allowed after Thursday and in all likelihood more on Friday, but that at least two flights were canceled.
The Thirteenth Channel indicated that the pilgrimage site was already full of worshipers, who did not wear masks, did not stay outdoors or observe social distancing.
Ukraine announced Wednesday that it would seal its borders to foreigners until September to curb coronavirus infections, preventing Israeli and Jewish pilgrims from traveling to Uman for Rosh Hashaná.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal also noted that the government would impose a ban on large meetings in Ouman the Jewish New Year.
The announcement of the access ban came after Israel’s official reaction to the pandemic asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to spare him hajj, for fear that returning pilgrims could increase infection rates in the Jewish state.
Zelensky had announced on Tuesday that Ukraine would “significantly restrict” Jewish visitors’ access to Rosh Hashana at Netanyahu’s request, but specified the extent to which the pilgrimage would be limited.
Netanyahu’s workplace temporarily denied that the prime minister had made such a request, in what gave the impression that it was an effort to appease his ultra-Orthodox allies.
Professor Ronni Gamzu’s opposition from the coronavirus tsar to the pilgrimage, which basically attracts ultra-Orthodox Jews, has raised hackers among Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox partners, some of whom have tried to expel him from office.
Housing Minister Yaakov Litzman, leader of the Tor Party of Ultra-Orthodox Unified Judaism on Thursday for Gamzu’s expulsion.
At a first stone laying event, Litzman claimed that Gamzu had warned the Ukrainian president that “the Jews would tarnish his city and bring disease. “
Coalition whip Miki Zohar, a best friend of Netanyahu’s Likud, attacked Gamzu on Wednesday for seeking to prevent Israelis from traveling to Ouman for Rosh Hashaná, but they are not seeking to avoid mass protests against the prime minister, saying Gamzu is motivated through an alleged means of communication. Fear.
Gamzu rejected Zohar’s criticism, as did Health Minister Yuli Edelstein. Several lawmakers came to Gamzu’s defense.
Zohar’s complaint about Gamzu came a day after Zohar promised to “do everything” to prevent a large number of Hasidic Jews from flying to Ouman, and threatened to give up the matter.
Ukraine is one of the few countries that lately allows Israeli citizens, despite the maximum rate of coronavirus infection in the Jewish state.