230 new Ukrainian immigrants to Israel arrive on ‘freedom flight’

Over 200 new immigrants from Ukraine arrived in Israel just in time to celebrate the Jewish holiday of freedom, Passover. 

Israel received another 230 new Jewish immigrants from Ukraine on Tuesday, who arrived on a “Freedom Flight” that was organized by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ).

“The holiday of freedom that we will all celebrate soon is a significant expression of the concept of freedom that the olim (immigrants) will feel in Israel for the first time,” said IFCJ president Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein.

“I call to all of the people of Israel to remember the olim (new immigrants) and invite them to their homes for the Seder meal and to celebrate their freedom with them.”

For many of the new Israeli citizens, this coming Passover will be the first holiday of many to be celebrated in Israel, and Eckstein alluded to their liberation from the many burdens of Ukraine’s ongoing civil war. Many of the Ukrainian immigrants had not only faced economic hardship, but became refugees.

“The new olim that have joined us today are carrying with them a burden that is not at all simple – the burden of a political war and no less than that, an economic war,” explained Eckstein. “The open opportunity for the olim to come here and begin a new life, living in a strong and independent country, constitutes a rescue for them.”

Israeli Minister of Immigration and Absorption Sofa Landver of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, which largely caters to immigrants from the Former Soviet Union, committed to helping the 230 new immigrants integrate into Israel.

“I am very happy about the continued wave of Aliyah and am sure that together we will provide the olim who just arrived with the best possible care and optimal absorption in every part of life so that they will immediately feel at home,” she said.

By: Jonathan Benedek, World Israel News

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