Tania Krämer
DW, Mar. 23, 2022
A small four-star hotel near the central bus station in west Jerusalem has become a temporary home to Ukrainians fleeing the war back home. For some, it is their first time in Israel. For others, such as Julia Rabenko and her teenage son Kyrill, they’re returning after past visits. Regardless, none imagined they would come to Israel under these circumstances — with barely anything prepared for a longer stay.
“Israel is a good country, it’s a country of our dreams perhaps. But … I want to come here in a normal way — not like this, but with the whole family,” says Rabenko to DW in the lobby of the hotel.
Her husband had to stay behind in Ukraine due to the military draft. While the family had previously contemplated immigrating to Israel, and had already sent their eldest son here, it was not something they planned to undertake so soon.
Difficult decisions
“For me, it was a very difficult decision to go,” Rabenko says. “I thought I could stay. But all these air raid sirens came more often, and my son didn’t always want to go to the shelter,” she says. The English teacher still grapples with making sense of what upended her life, and that of her family and friends, who are now scattered across Ukraine, Poland, Germany and Israel.
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