Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over the phone on Friday, as the two discussed a possible framework that would allow Israelis to visit Uman, as well as other cooperative efforts for dealing with the coronavirus crisis.
During the conversation, an emphasis was put on vaccines and mutual recognition of each country's green passport program. It was agreed that officials would meet soon in order to produce a plan that would allow vaccinated individuals to travel between the respective countries, especially in regard to the annual pilgrimage to Uman in Ukraine for Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) .
The statement published by the Prime Minister's Office about Netanyahu's conversation with Zelensky followed a widespread campaign waged by the Breslov Hasidic group in Israel, comprised of dozens of communities across the country, that threatened not to cast their votes for Shas and United Torah Judaism (UTJ) in the upcoming elections over the government's attempts to ban the Uman pilgrimage last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Breslov campaign convinced Agudat Yisrael, a hassidic constituent party of UTJ, to write a letter demanding that the future coalition guarantee a plan that will allow the Uman pilgrimage to take place this year, and conditioning their political support on such a guarantee.
"The events of this past year have created the unfortunate situation of the coronavirus pandemic preventing thousands of people who travel [to Uman] every year to pay their respects to Nachman of Breslov this past Rosh Hashanah," the letter published by Agudat Yisrael read.
The letter indicated that Agudat Yisrael MKs will ensure that all individuals who were vaccinated or had recovered from COVID-19 would be able to travel to Uman for this year's pilgrimage in September.
Netanyahu's phone call with Zelensky was announced shortly after the letter was made public, indicating the prime minister is aware that many still blame him for last year's travel ban.
Hasidic protesters were often seen joining the anti-Netanyahu Balfour protests last year, and an online campaign went as far as spreading the slogan: "Netanyahu is bad for believers."
Netanyahu apparently noticed the danger and acted swiftly, fearing a crack in his political bloc with less than two weeks remaining until Election Day. Celia Jean contributed to this report.