Two planes carrying about 100 Jewish Ukrainian orphans landed in Israel on Sunday afternoon.
The children, who range between 2 and 18 years in age, boarded the flight from Romania after a nearly 430-mile bus journey from the Alumim Jewish orphanage, in the northern Ukrainian city of Zhytomyr, to Cluj-Napoca in northwestern Romania. The bus trip took two days due to the numerous stops required and the difficult conditions.
Israeli Ambassador to Romania David Saranga and Consul Roni Shabtai coordinated the transportation and the children’s crossing of the border into Romania. Shabtai crossed into Ukraine to facilitate their evacuation.
They crossed the border on Wednesday overnight and stayed until Sunday in Cluj-Napoca, where they were supplied with basic need articles and food by the Israeli Embassy.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett welcomed the youngsters at Ben-Gurion Airport.
Earlier he tweeted, “On behalf of the citizens of Israel, I thank Israeli Ambassador to Romania David Saranga and Consul Roni Shabtai, who received the children at the border with blankets, warm socks, and other necessities. Dear children, come home to Israel, we are waiting for you with love.”
Upon arrival, they headed to the Nes Harim Field and Forest Education Center, a complex in the Judean foothills, west of Jerusalem, which is owned by Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF).
The KKL-JNF responded to a request from the Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS to host the children together with 40 members of the orphanage staff.
Israeli children await the arrival of the children from Ukraine, March 6, 2022. (Courtesy KKL-JNF)
KKL-JNF World Chairman Avraham Duvdevani, who was to greet the youngsters at the center, said in a press release, “The situation in Ukraine is worrying, especially the situation of the children, so we decided to open the gates of the Nes Harim Field and Forest Center and host the children.”
Gili Maimon, the director of the Nes Harim Center, told The Media Line the children and accompanying staff from Ukraine are expected to stay there for about a month.
“The children will be in a safe and comfortable place, and KKL-JNF will provide them with everything they need,” Maimon said.
The organization’s priority is “to help the children who came out of the hell in Ukraine,” she said.
For now, the assumption is that their stay in Israel will be temporary. If the conflict continues and the children cannot return home, “possible solutions will be evaluated then,” Maimon said.
Youth from HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed youth movement wait for the children from Ukraine at Nes Harim, Israel, March 6, 2022. (Courtesy KKL-JNF)
Three additional flights carrying a total of 300 Ukrainian Jews were set to arrive in Israel on Sunday − two leaving from Poland and one from Moldova.
Danny Adeno Abebe, the spokesman for the Aliyah and Integration Ministry, told The Media Line the ministry is expecting around 10,000 immigrants to arrive from Ukraine.
At the same time, the Education Ministry is preparing for the arrival of 2,000 Ukrainian children who will join the school system.