Ukraine Accuses Belarus Of Misleading Jewish Pilgrims As Some 2,000 Stranded On Border

By Staff Reporter
Posted on 09/16/20 | News Source: i24

Some 2,000 Jewish pilgrims amassed on Ukraine-Belarus border in hopes to make it to Rabbi Nachman's tomb

Belarus is stoking the tensions on its border with Ukraine by spreading false rumors regarding the possibility of Jewish pilgrimage to a major religious site in Ukraine's Uman, Kyiv president's office said Wednesday.

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Some 2,000 Jews, mostly from Israel, found themselves stranded on the border between the two countries after falling for "rumors that the Ukrainian border with Belarus was open," Kyiv said, as cited by the AFP

Ukraine urged Minsk to refrain from spreading "false encouraging statements that may give pilgrims the impression that the Ukrainian border may still be open to foreigners."

Every Rosh Hashana -- Jewish New Year -- thousands of Hasidic pilgrims arrived in the town of Uman to pray at the tomb of Rabbi Nahman, founder of the Breslov Hasidic movement. Read more at i24