In its current policy, official Israel sacrifices the moral aspect to political expediency — the former Director of the Mossad, Tamir Pardo
Wishing to maintain neutrality during World War II, Switzerland closed its borders to most Jewish refugees, while representatives of other nationalities fleeing the war could freely find refuge in this country.
The current Israeli policy towards refugees from Ukraine is very similar, according to the former Director of the Mossad, Tamir Pardo, who headed one of the most titled intelligence services in the world from 2011 to 2016.
“The door is open for Jews whose Judaism is not in doubt under the Law of Return but for the non-Jewish asylum seekers, Israel has created insurmountable difficulties. If the majority of Israelis believe it’s moral that we differentiate between Ukrainian Jewish and non-Jewish refugees, we have a problem,” these are the words of Pardo from his report on the topic of Ukraine: Moral Considerations in Israel’s Foreign Policy, which he made at the Jewish People Policy Institute’s conference at Reichman University in Herzliya, where he will be responsible for geopolitical research.
Of course, Israel has been providing a lot of humanitarian assistance to Ukraine since the first days of the full-scale Russian invasion, and a large part of the population takes a pro-Ukrainian position. At the same time, the problem at the official level with the admission of Ukrainians really exists. Back in March, I joined many Ukrainian Jews who appealed to the Israeli government to remove artificially created obstacles to the entry of refugees into the country.
Three months later, it was possible to obtain permission to receive 5,000 non-Jewish Ukrainians, but in order for them to enter Israel, they still need to submit a preliminary application, which actually cancels the Visa-Free Agreement between our countries unilaterally.
According to Pardo, in its current policy, official Israel sacrifices the moral aspect to political expediency, trying to sit on two chairs.
“I would like to ask: does the current government understand that it will have to regret its attitude towards the war in Ukraine? The Israelis will have to pay for this attitude,” warns the new head of department for geopolitical research at the Jewish People Policy Institute.
