02-14-2022 Emily Jones
A view of Ukraine’s national flag waves above the capital with the Motherland Monument on the right, in Kyiv Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
JERUSALEM, Israel — Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Sunday urged the thousands of Israelis in Eastern Europe to leave Ukraine as concerns about a potential Russian invasion continue to grow.
“Like the entire world, we hope that the tension will end without an escalation. But our first obligation is to take care of Israeli citizens. Therefore, on Saturday the foreign minister and I, and our teams saw to it to greatly increase the frequency of flights to Israel, and I am calling again upon Israelis in Ukraine: come home. Don’t take unnecessary risks. Don’t wait for a situation where you really want to come back, but it will be impossible,” Bennett said during his Sunday cabinet meeting.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid also warned that the window to evacuate Israelis from Ukraine has grown “especially small.”
Israel is preparing for the possibility that Ukraine’s skies could close to air traffic if a conflict with Russia ensues. While Israel believes that scenario is unlikely, the country is prepared to evacuate Israelis through Hungary, Poland, Moldova, Romania and Slovakia, said Lapid.
Israeli authorities have also been working on a secret plan to rescue Jews from Ukraine and bring them to Israel if an invasion happens, The Jerusalem Post reports. Details of the operation remain unclear.
The foreign minister said more than 6,000 Israelis in Ukraine have signed up to receive emergency updates and information from Israel’s embassy.
Despite the calls to evacuate, Israelis aren’t filling up flights from Ukraine to Tel Aviv, Foreign Ministry officials said on Sunday.
Israel has already begun evacuating the families of its diplomats in Ukraine.
However, the Israeli Embassy in Kyiv will continue to operate with a full team of diplomatic staff, according to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“We are reinforcing the embassy in Kyiv in order to better address the needs of citizens of Israel and the Jewish community in Ukraine if necessary,” Deputy Foreign Minister Idan Roll said.
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