Fleeing unrest, Ukrainian Jews arrive in Israel
According to Jewish Agency stats, some 4,200 Ukrainian immigrants have come so far this year.
Alexandrina Zheludev, 19, sits hugging her mother, Oksana, both holding back tears, as Israeli news photographers gather around photographing them from all possible angles on Monday. Sitting outside a row of offices belonging to the Immigration and Absorption Ministry in Ben-Gurion Airport, the pair have just been reunited after not seeing each other for a year.
Days before Rosh Hashana, 140 immigrants from Russia and Ukraine arrived in Israel, including Alexandrina’s family, refugees from war-torn Luhansk. Held by Moscow- backed separatists rebelling against Kiev, the Jewish community of that city has been scattered to the winds, with many taking refuge in Kharkov, Kiev and Dnipropetrovsk.
Approximately 4,200 Ukrainian immigrants have come so far in the Jewish calendar year of 5774, an increase of 110% over the previous year, according to figures the Jewish Agency released on Monday.
In Israel for a year, Alexandrina lost contact with her family several times during the course of the conflict, which saw them escape the war zone only to return at the behest of Israeli consular officials in order to collect documents necessary to obtain Israeli citizenship.
http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Fleeing-unrest-Ukrainian-Jews-arrive-in-Israel-376065
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