Israeli Minister Calls on Jewish Pilgrims Stranded at Ukrainian Border to Return Home

TEL AVIV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th September, 2020) Israel is urging the Hasidic Jews, who are waiting for the opportunity to enter Ukraine's Uman for pilgrimage, to return home, since it is unlikely that the coronavirus-related border closures will be lifted soon, Israeli Minister of Higher education and Water Resources and the head of a ministerial group on the stranded nationals, Zeev Elkin, said on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry recommended that the pilgrims, who have been trying for several days to get to the country from Belarus despite the coronavirus-related ban, purchase tickets and return home, as the closure would remain in force.

"Despite multiple efforts to help Israelis who are trying to enter Ukraine via Belarus or Moldova, the Ukrainian authorities provided a final negative response this morning [on Thursday].

... They will not allow travel via border crossings or [as part of] any limited delegations. I call on our citizens to return to Israel and observe the isolation rules upon their return," Elkin wrote on Twitter.

Every Jewish New Year, thousands of Hasidic Jews go to Uman on a pilgrimage mission to visit the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, who revived the Hasidic movement and died in 1810. This year, the Jewish New Year will be celebrated from September 18-20.

According to the Ukrainian border service, over 3,000 pilgrims will be trying to cross the border to further move to the central town of Uman. The town's mayor, Alexander Tsebriy, has already said that the pilgrims' arrival this year in the traditional format was impossible due to the pandemic.