JERUSALEM — Israel’s plans to send a planeload of medical and humanitarian aid for the refugees streaming out of Kosovo were delayed Tuesday night at the last minute.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman said that clearance for certain fly zones had not been approved and that more time was needed to arrange the flight. The plane is now scheduled to leave for Albania at the beginning of next week with Science Minister Silvan Shalom leading a delegation.
The delay came amid internal criticism that Israel has been sluggish in denouncing the Serb actions in Kosovo or in voicing support for the NATO strikes.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week denied allegations that he had failed to express explicit approval for the NATO strikes so as not to antagonize the Russians.
“We have not been silent. I have denounced the actions in the sharpest manner,” Netanyahu said.
Speaking on Army Radio, he also said that “political considerations have nothing to do with the current humanitarian crisis we are facing.”
However, Knesset member Yossi Sarid of the far-left Meretz Party criticized the government for what he called “the thundering silence” on the continuing massacres taking place in Yugoslavia.
“Israel always rails at the rest of the world when we Jews are being killed,” Sarid said. “But when it is others being killed, this pathetic government has nothing to say. Netanyahu and [Foreign Minister Ariel] Sharon believe that one measly plane with medicines will make up for this…but it will only bring attention to the embarrassment.”
The decision to send the plane took place at a special cabinet meeting Tuesday. Sharon reportedly stressed the importance of taking a stand and suggested that the plane be sent as soon as possible.
“This is Israel’s moral obligation,” he said.
Meanwhile, Absorption Minister Yuli Edelstein said the country is ready to receive refugees who want to come to Israel.
According to Absorption Ministry statistics, about 3,000 Jews live in Yugoslavia. About 2,000 of them live in Belgrade and 30 in Kosovo. Seven Jewish refugees from Kosovo and Belgrade arrived in Israel on Wednesday on a flight from Budapest and spent the seder that night with the Netanyahu family.
Labor Party leader Ehud Barak promised that his One Israel coalition will back any action taken by the government to assist those in need in Kosovo.
“No Jew and no citizen can stand by and close their eyes to the horror taking place in Kosovo,” Barak said in a statement. “One Israel will support any action taken by the government to aid the Western countries…[to] stop this horrible massacre.”
However, there were a few voices of dissent. In a small but noisy demonstration outside the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv on Monday, Yugoslavian expatriates demanded that NATO stop its attacks on their homeland. About 60 demonstrators shouted slogans, sang songs, blew whistles, and waved flags and signs across from the building.
Dragan Dimitrov, who organized the demonstration, relayed a message from the Jewish community of Yugoslavia, calling on the Israeli government to press NATO to stop its attacks. He defended Serb military action against Kosovo’s ethnic Albanians, who demand independence.
“Kosovo is our country,” said Dimitrov, who has lived here for five years. “Just as Israel cannot give Jerusalem to the Palestinians, we cannot give Kosovo to the Albanians. Kosovo is our Jerusalem.”
Another demonstrator, Maritsa Dimitrov, expressed worry. “All my family is there,” she said. She heard they fled their city, Novisat, seeking safety in the countryside.
On Tuesday, Rabbi Michael Melchior of Meimad — one of three parties in One Israel — met with Yugoslavia’s ambassador to Israel and called for an end to “systematic genocide” against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
While Melchior met Ambassador Mirko Stefanovic, a dozen Meimad members demonstrated outside.
A separate demonstration took place later, sponsored by Meretz Youth. Police claimed the demonstrators attempted to break into the embassy and were turned back. Four demonstrators were arrested, some forcefully.
Stefanovic said NATO bombing, not the Serbian army, is to blame for the loss of life in Kosovo. “The Yugoslavian government has no policy of ethnic cleansing,” he told the demonstrators. “Yugoslavia has a policy of fighting terrorists.”
Also demonstrating outside the Yugoslav Embassy was another candidate, Dedi Zucker, leading the Green Party he now belongs to since leaving Meretz.
“We are here to take a stand against massacres and deportation,” he said.
Zucker and Melchior said that Jews, as the target of genocide during World War II, must speak out on Kosovo. But Stefanovic, whose mother is Jewish and who lost relatives to the Nazis, appealed to Israelis to leave the Holocaust out of the Kosovo debate.
“The Holocaust was a unique event in history,” he said. “It should not be used for political reasons.”