Lapid says Israel has ‘moral duty’ to let in more non-Jewish refugees from Ukraine

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid says Israel has a “moral duty” to allow in more non-Jewish refugees fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, amid growing criticism in the government of Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked’s decision to cap the number of those allowed to stay in Israel.

“We won’t close our gates and our hearts to those who lost everything,” he says during a visit to the Siret border crossing on Romania’s border to Ukraine.

“It’s our obligation not only to be good Jews but to be good people,” Lapid adds, in comments that contrast with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s repeated stress that Israel’s “sacred” task is to focus on Jewish refugees. Israel has also capped the number of non-Jewish refugees it will accept at 25,000 — 20,000 of whom were i

“In Israel there are nine millions residents and our Jewish identity won’t be harmed by a few more thousand refugees.”

Lapid calls for Israel to be much “much more generous” about letting in those escaping the war, but says “it’s impossible to allow in refugees without limit. The government will find this balance.”

He also says: “What’s unforgivable and intolerable are the mistakes that were made in dealing with refugees who already arrived in Israel… The pictures of an old woman and her daughter sleeping on the floor at Ben Gurion Airport can’t be repeated.”