An Israeli minister was hoping on Thursday that Hasidic Jews would enter Ukraine via Belarus.
"Ukraine has announced that it will
not allow crossing the border or entering through any small delegation. I urge
my citizens to return to Israel and maintain quarantine instructions on their
arrival." Minister of Higher Education and Water Zeev Elkin, who is
Ukrainian. Born, said on Twitter.
Kiev has stopped pilgrims trying to reach
the central Ukrainian city of Oman, in line with a ban on foreign visitors, as
it increases the risk of infection.
Every Jewish New Year, thousands of Jews
travel to Oman - which falls on September 18-20 this year - to visit the tomb
of Rabbi Nahman, the founder of the Breslov Hasidic movement.
The believers left for Oman this year,
although last month the Ukrainian and Israeli governments urged them not to
travel because of the Covid 19 epidemic.
Ultra-Orthodox members of the Israeli
coalition have pressured Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to enable the
practice, despite objections from health officials that it has escalated from
mass mobs. There is fear.
As of Wednesday, more than 2,000
disillusioned Jewish pilgrims, most of them Israelis, had gathered on the
Ukraine-Belarus border in the hope that they would be allowed’ to enter.
"Despite many attempts by Israelis to
enter Ukraine via Belarus or Moldova, we have received a final negative
response from the Ukrainian authorities," Elkin said.
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