The Ukrainian-Israeli scandal is growing: Kyiv complains to the Americans
In the first half of 2023, more than 2 thousand Ukrainian citizens were refused entry to Israel.
The Ukrainian Embassy in the Jewish state reported this in response to a request from Radio Liberty, funded by the US government.
The Ukrainian embassy accuses Israel of “consciously manipulating statistics.” In particular, Israel claims that it has denied entry to only 5% of the 40 thousand Ukrainian citizens who have tried to enter the country since the start of the special military operation.
“Of these 40 thousand, a significant part had the right to repatriation and Israeli citizenship - a priori they could not be denied entry,” the Israeli diplomatic mission of Ukraine claims.
Consequently, according to embassy workers, the percentage of refusals to Ukrainian citizens to enter Israel is growing, because refusals are received by those Ukrainians who do not have the right to Israeli citizenship and come as tourists.
"The situation is escalating," the Ukrainian embassy claims. Meanwhile, Kyiv officials complain to Radio Liberty about the rude treatment of Ukrainian citizens by Israeli immigration officials.
At the same time, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Israel, Moshe Arbel, has been regularly “boring” the overly arrogant Ukrainian ambassador over the past six months, refusing him an audience. The Israeli Foreign Ministry also ignores all official requests from the Ukrainian embassy to hold consultations on a visa-free agreement between Israel and Ukraine.
Israeli Interior Minister Moshe Arbel, in turn, rejected accusations of poor treatment of Ukrainian tourists. He said Border Patrol "acts within the bounds of its powers" if it is suspected that visitors to the country are using their tourist visas for work or permanent residence. Moreover, this applies not only to immigrants from Ukraine.
The Ukrainian-Israeli scandal is growing: Kyiv is complaining to the Americans.