Law to protect soldiers would be ‘dangerous’ to UK forces’ reputation, PM warned
KIEV: More than 1,000 Jewish pilgrims who massed for several days along
Ukraine’s border gave up hope of entering the country on Friday after
being turned back due to coronavirus restrictions.
The Orthodox-Jewish believers including hundreds of children camped out
this week in no-man’s land between the Ukrainian and Belarusian border
crossings ahead of Jewish New Year celebrations this weekend.
Tens of thousands of Hasidic Jews travel to the central Ukrainian city
of Uman every Jewish New Year to visit the tomb of Rabbi Nahman, the
founder of the Breslov Hasidic movement.
The standoff between pilgrims and armed Ukrainian security services
sparked tensions at the Novi Yarylovychi border crossing and inflamed a
diplomatic row between Minsk and Kiev.
Ukrainian border guard spokesman Andriy Demchenko told AFP Friday that
most pilgrims had returned to Belarus and only “a few pilgrims” hoping
to enter Ukraine remained at the crossing point.
Belarus, which earlier said the pilgrims should be allowed to visit holy
sites in Ukraine, confirmed that fewer than a dozen people were
attempting to cross.
Belarus’s Border Committee representative Anton Bychkovskiy said
pilgrims were “leaving the border en masse” and traveling onwards to
nearby cities by bus and taxi.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday wished Jews a happy New
Year and acknowledged the country had been “forced to limit mass
events” over safety concerns.
The believers — mainly Israeli, but also American and French — departed
for Uman this year even though both the Ukrainian and Israeli
governments last month urged them not to travel because of the pandemic.
An Israeli minister on Thursday called on those camping out on the
border to return home and uphold quarantine rules on arrival in Israel.
Kiev closed its borders for most of the month of September citing a
growing number of coronavirus infections, but the pilgrims attempted to
bypass the restrictions by traveling through Belarus.
Ukrainian border guards announced Friday they had arrested several
pilgrims, including Israeli and US citizens, trying to enter the country
illegally from Hungary, Poland and Romania.
Kiev has reported more than 169,000 cases of coronavirus and 3,468
fatalities. On Thursday, officials registered a record one-day increase
in infections.
The standoff on the border aggravated strained ties between Kiev and
Minsk, which have traded barbs over disputed presidential elections in
Belarus last month.
Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko earlier instructed officials to
negotiate a travel corridor with Ukraine and offered to provide buses to
transport religious believers to holy sites in Ukraine.
Kiev in turn accused Belarusian authorities of giving false hope to the
Hasidic pilgrims that they would be allowed to travel to Uman.
Both Ukraine and Israel are keen to avoid a spike in coronavirus infections.
Israel imposed a second nationwide lockdown on Friday to tackle one of
the world’s highest coronavirus infection rates, despite public protests
over the new blow to the economy.
The three-week shutdown starts just hours before Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year.
Meanwhile, up to 3,000 Hasidic Jews have arrived in Uman for the celebrations entering Ukraine before the ban, police said.
Law enforcement has tightened security near Rabbi Nahman’s tomb where pilgrims have congregated.
Comments