Diaspora Affairs Minister Nachman Shai visited the Medyka border crossing between Poland and Ukraine on Tuesday afternoon and witnessed the streams of refugees fleeing the war in their homeland.
Minister Shai will also be visiting the Korczowa border crossing later in the day.
The minister stopped at an operations center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs assisting Israelis leaving Ukraine, and met with officials from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
who are providing assistance to Jewish refugees and Israelis who have fled the country.
He also spoke with representatives of the Israeli volunteer organization Rescuers Without Borders providing medical assistance to refugees in need.
“The images of tens of thousands of refugees, fleeing for their lives, are incredibly upsetting,” said Minister Shai.
“As a people that has known suffering and hardship, right here on the frozen soil of Europe, I cannot help but speak as an Israeli, as a Jew and as a human being. The state of the Jewish people cannot close its gates at such a time. As a minister of the Israeli government, I will continue to fight to keep the gates of the State of Israel open to refugees from this terrible war.”