Ninety more Ukrainian refugees who qualify for Aliyah under the Law of Return landed in Israel Wednesday afternoon. The flight was spearheaded by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews in coordination with the Aliyah and Integration Ministry and the Jewish Agency for Israel.
The oldest person on the plane was an 84-year-old woman. The youngest was a one-year-old toddler girl. There were also seven pets.
“I am going to Israel because I am Jewish,” said 34-year-old Oleksiimr Shukarat, who said he has already landed a job at Ariel University. A street artist who has drawn on more than 100 meters of wall in recent years, he said that he wants to organize a street art festival to put smiles on local children’s faces.
When asked if he was worried about relocating his life to the Jewish state, Shukarat said the only thing that concerns him is that “there won’t be enough walls to draw on.”
He added that “I really love Israel, and I want to bring my connections to Israel and help the Jewish state as much as I can.”
Refugee to Post: Escape from Ukraine was 'now or never'
Another traveler, Lev Vikneanski, was planning to reunite with his 100-year-old mother who he had not seen for several years; she made Aliyah more than 30 years ago. He left his wife behind in Ukraine with her sick mother but told The Jerusalem Post it was now or never, given the war.
“We thought about leaving Ukraine when the war started,” Vikneanski said. “But then my wife said she could not leave her mother. So we pushed it off and pushed it off. We just could not push it off any further. I am happy and sad at the same time. I am so happy to see my family I have not seen in so long, but I am also sad because my wife [of 41 years] is staying behind and I do not know when she will manage to come.”
This latest group joined more than 15,000 people who had already made Aliyah since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war on February 24 last year.
The Fellowship has aided more than 5,000 immigrants since the start of the war. This is the 28th charter flight to arrive in Israel full of olim. Two additional mixed charters for immigrants and bedridden patients have also been funded by the organization, as well as seven small medical flights that were managed in collaboration with Zaka.
“As one of the first members of Knesset to travel to the refugee camps to see how Israel could assist in bringing people to Israel, it is deeply moving to now stand here as the aliyah and integration minister,” said Ofir Sofer, who met the immigrants on the tarmac. “Our Ministry stands ready to do everything possible to assist in your absorption and I am already working to address your needs for language education alongside other areas of need.
“I view the successful absorption of the immigrant community as an issue of national importance and we are here to assist them in learning a new language and culture as well as being integrated into the national workforce,” he said.