Russia-Ukraine War
"Looking in Hebrew-speaking aisles between the queues of refugees from Ukraine, and pulling out of the queue"
A spokeswoman for the Israeli embassy in Ukraine told 103FM about efforts to help Israelis trying to escape the fighting and leave the country, amid heavy traffic and freezing weather.
"The traffic jams go on for miles. Yesterday we managed to pull out 15 families at the end of the line, with insane efforts."
Walla!
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28/02/2022
Monday, 28 February 2022, 08:48 Updated: 09:16
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In the video: Walla!
Eastern Europe reports from the Ukraine-Poland border (Photo: Yoav Itiel)
Israeli Embassy spokeswoman for Ukraine Alex Ben-Ari said today (Monday) that embassy workers are at the border crossings to help Israelis and Jews trying to escape from the country, and that the heavy snow and congestion make it difficult for refugees.
"It's really rows of traffic jams of people cars and buses. The traffic jams go on for miles," she said.
"We wake up with snow and that's the worst thing we can wake up with because of the refugee load. It means colder nights for the people at the border," said Ben-Ari, who made it clear that refugees have no shelter at night from the freezing weather.
Regarding the question of whether there are refugees who did not survive the journey and the difficult conditions, she replied: "I very much hope that this question will remain purely hypothetical."
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An emigrant from Ukraine and her baby after crossing the border into Poland on Tuesday (Photo: Reuters)
She clarified that the conditions at the border crossings are not prepared for such waves of refugees.
"These are borders that one or two cars usually cross, it is not prepared for what is happening here, for foot crossings that opened after talks and such insane amounts," said Ben-Ari, who also noted that because of the war Ukraine does not allow men up to 60 to leave the country.
"That's why we check vehicle-vehicle, person-person, everyone is put back."
"Our people are in the area of the crossings," Ben-Ari stressed, talking about the difficulty in locating Israelis trying to leave Ukraine.
"Switching between refugee queues is impossible and it is also very dangerous. Imagine people trying to escape and coming and taking out someone specific? What we do is stand at points where people get to move to Poland or Moldova or Slovakia, and then pull people as close to the border as possible."
More on Walla!
Documentation: Ukrainians fleeing the fighting are housed in makeshift refugee camps on the Polish border
To the full article
"We try to help in extreme cases with the help of [authorities], who are tired here - and I do not mean that they do not sleep but themselves may lose a kind of human empathy. Therefore we try to convey to all the people standing in line: From the middle of the queue, but we are waiting for you at the end, "she added.
"Yesterday we managed to pull 15 people, 15 families out of the queue closer. It's crazy efforts of our people at the border, when they do it they endanger themselves," said Ben-Ari, who said it sometimes provokes anger among other refugees.
"There is a queue. When we see that there is a queue the reason to get around it should be strong and good enough. People are angry just as each of us was angry. The goal is to do everything in consideration between the emergency and the needs, and understanding the existing situation. "He said to go around and understand who speaks Hebrew. At the same time, people send us where they are, what they need, how far they are - and that's just the transition."
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