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Israel Extends Stay of Ukrainian Refugees to End of 2024
Then-Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen speaks during a news conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Kyiv in February 2023. Photo: Reuters/Gleb Garanich
The Israeli government on Wednesday announced that Ukrainian refugees who fled their country due to the ongoing war with Russia can remain in Israel until the end of 2024, extending their stay in a move that was welcomed by Ukraine.
“We praise the current decision of the government of Israel to prolong approval for Ukrainian citizens to legally stay in Israel until the end of 2024!” Ukraine’s Embassy in Israel said in a statement. “This decision is especially generous in these challenging times for the State of Israel.”
The Ukrainian embassy appeared to be referencing Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza against the Hamas terror group, which launched the conflict with its Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel.
The decision to extend the stay for Ukrainian refugees was made by Israeli Interior Minister Moshe Arbel.
Ukraine’s Ambassador to Israel, Yevgen Korniychuk, praised the move.
“We highly appreciate this decision,” he said. “Our nations are going together through the hardest times and even now, we feel the support of the Israeli people.”
Korniychuk’s comments came after he and Israeli officials clashed over Israel’s treatment of Ukrainian citizens.
The ambassador had warned last year that Hasidic visitors would be banned from the Ukrainian city of Uman — the site of the annual Rosh Hashanah pilgrimage to the tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, the revered founder of the Breslover Hasidim — in response to Israel’s deportation of Ukrainian citizens.
According to Korniychuk, Israel had deported around 10 percent of Ukrainian refugees arriving in the country. Israel rejected the criticism, asserting that the envoy’s figures for deportations were “inflated.”
Over 20,000 Hasidim ended up making the pilgrimage to Uman in September, despite security concerns about traveling to a country at war. Uman has been targeted by Russian forces on several occasions since the invasion. In April, at least 20 people were killed in an air strike on the city.
The two governments have also clashed over the provision of medical insurance to Ukrainian refugees in Israel. In August, thousands of refugees found themselves without coverage before the Israeli authorities agreed to an extension until the end of the year.
More than 15,000 Ukrainians have immigrated to Israel since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in Feb. 2022, according to government figures released early last year. The Israeli government has budgeted 40 million NIS ($10.7 million) for their welfare.
Millions of refugees have fled Ukraine since Russia’s invasion.
The post Israel Extends Stay of Ukrainian Refugees to End of 2024 first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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White House Withdraws Nomination for US Hostage Envoy
FILE PHOTO: Adam Boehler, the CEO of the US International Development Finance Corporation, addresses the daily coronavirus task force briefing in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, US, April 14, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo
The Trump administration has withdrawn the nomination of Adam Boehler to serve as special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, the White House said on Saturday.
Boehler, who has been working to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, will continue hostage-related work as a so-called “special government employee,” a position that would not need Senate confirmation.
“Adam Boehler will continue to serve President Trump as a special government employee focused on hostage negotiations,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
“Adam played a critical role in negotiating the return of Marc Fogel from Russia. He will continue this important work to bring wrongfully detained individuals around the world home.”
A White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Boehler withdrew his nomination to avoid divesting from his investment company. The move was unrelated to the controversy sparked by his discussions with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
“He still has the utmost confidence of President Trump,” said the official.
“This gives me the best ability to help Americans held abroad as well as work across agencies to achieve President Trump’s objectives,” Boehler told Reuters in a brief statement.
Boehler recently held direct meetings with Hamas on the release of hostages in Gaza. The discussions broke with a decades-old policy by Washington against negotiating with groups that the US brands as terrorist organizations.
The talks angered some Senate Republicans and some Israeli leaders. According to Axios, Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer expressed his displeasure to Boehler in a tense phone call last week.
Boehler was given permission from the Trump administration to engage directly with Hamas, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier this week, calling the talks a “one-off situation” that had not borne fruit.
Boehler has been credited with helping secure the release of Fogel, a US schoolteacher who was freed by Russia in February after three and a half years in prison.
The post White House Withdraws Nomination for US Hostage Envoy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Bernard-Henri Lévy, German Officials Bow Out of Israeli Antisemitism Conference
French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy addressing the 38th Zionist Congress. Photo: Screenshot.
i24 News – A French intellectual superstar and a pair of German officials announced that they withdrew from a conference on antisemitism organized by the Israeli government, citing the participation of far-right figures in the Jerusalem event.
Iconic thinker Bernard-Henri Lévy, who was set to deliver the conference’s keynote address, opted out upon learning that Marion Marechal and Jordan Bardella from France’s far-right National Rally party were among the other speakers.
Felix Klein, the Federal Government Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight Against Antisemitism, “has decided not to attend,” his representatives told Haaretz.
“He was unaware of the other attendees when he accepted the invitation, and upon learning who the other speakers were, he decided to withdraw.”
Volker Beck, a former Green Party parliamentarian who chairs the Germany-Israel Friendship Society (DIG) also announced he was cancelling his attendance. “If we associate ourselves with extreme right-wing forces, we discredit our common cause; it also goes against my personal convictions and will have a negative impact on our fight against antisemitism within our societies.”
The post Bernard-Henri Lévy, German Officials Bow Out of Israeli Antisemitism Conference first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US Kicks Out South Africa’s Hamas-Linked Ambassador
Marco Rubio speaks after he is sworn in as Secretary of State by US Vice President JD Vance at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC, Jan. 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
i24 News – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday designated the South African ambassador to Washington Ebrahim Rasool as a Persona Non Grata, branding Rasool a “race-bating politician.”
The decision comes after Rasool made the inflammatory allegation that Trump was “leading global white supremacist” movement.
A known supporter of the genocidal Palestinian group Hamas, Rasool even boasted that he owned a keffiyeh signed by late Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh.
South Africa filed a claim with the International Court of Justice, alleging that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza during its ongoing war against Hamas, a charge both Israel and the US regard as slanderous and antisemitic.
The post US Kicks Out South Africa’s Hamas-Linked Ambassador first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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