‘Biggest war in Europe since 1945,’ Israelis urged to ‘come home’

“Come home,” Bennett urged Israelis who have not left Ukraine, warning that airlines have already begun cancelling flights.

By Associated Press and World Israel News Staff

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned that should Russia invade Ukraine, the Kremlin would be waging the “biggest war in Europe since 1945.”

Speaking to the BBC, Johnson said that “all the signs are that [Moscow’s] plan has already in some senses begun” and “there’s no burnishing it.”

“I’m afraid to say that the plan we are seeing is for something that could be really the biggest war in Europe since 1945 just in terms of sheer scale,” he added.

“People need to understand the sheer cost in human life that could entail.”

On Saturday, speaking at the Munich Security Conference, U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris said, “Not since the end of the Cold War has this forum convened under such dire circumstances.”

Ursula von der Leyen, head of the EU’s Executive Commission, said Moscow would have its access to financial markets and high-tech goods limited under Western sanctions if it attacks Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett repeated his plea to Israelis in the Ukraine to come home immediately.

“We are in a delicate time vis-à-vis global stability. We do not know what any given day will bring and I will not boast of dealing in commentary. What is relevant to us is to make certain that the Israelis in Ukraine return home,” he stated Sunday morning.

Despite the “great efforts on the matter” made by the Foreign Minister to assist in their evacuation, “according to the data I have received from them this morning,” Bennett said, “a little over 3,000 Israelis have left Ukraine. But there are many thousands more who are still there at a time when airlines are already cancelling flights.

“Therefore, I appeal from here to all Israeli citizens who are still in Ukraine: This is not the time to be complacent. A little discomfort now is preferable to tangible danger to your lives later. Come home.”