The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was a just a short walk from the Vert Hotel, in the Kiryat Ben-Gurion, the government complex of buildings adjacent the Knesset. Still elated from dinner the night before, Eitan’s spirit was warmed further when he greeted Vera in the hotel lobby. Together they exited the hotel, and Eitan hailed a taxi. It was a short ride, and he would have preferred to stretch his legs, but he knew that Vera could not easily make the walk. Driving towards the Foreign Ministry, they passed some beautiful new apartment complexes. When Eitan commented on how beautiful they were, the cab driver remarked that they were being bought up by rich French Jews fleeing rising anti-Semitism in their home country.
Eitan was dismayed to hear such news, but he was not surprised. Nevertheless, he perked up as the taxi approached the beautiful Wohl Rose Garden. After making a right turn just passed the entrance to the garden, the taxi deposited Vera and Eitan on the curb in front of the Ministry. When they arrived, Yehoshua was waiting eagerly to greet them.
“Boker tov, welcome to the Ministry,” he said, handing Eitan and Vera visitor’s badges to wear around their necks.
Eitan and Vera greeted Yehoshua and put on their badges. After introducing himself to Vera, Yehoshua led them into a security room where Eitan’s phone and Vera’s raggedy purse traveled through an X-ray machine. Moments later they followed their host into a lovely courtyard through the main entrance of the Ministry. In a long rectangular conference room just beyond the foyer, Noam and Eli were conversing when Yehoshua, Vera, and Eitan entered the room. Eitan noticed that a few Israeli newspapers were scattered on the table before them. Each one was opened to articles about Palestinian agitation on the Gaza border. Yehoshua noticed the rabbi checking the headlines and said, “We looked at those at our last meeting. It’s never boring around here.”
The rabbi nodded and smiled wordlessly, not wanting to distract from the task at hand. Yehoshua turned his attention to greeting Noam and Eli. Noam invited everyone to sit down, and Yehoshua opened the discussion. He began by thanking Vera for coming to Jerusalem, and hailed her as a hero of the Jewish people. She smiled and thanked him, and said how happy she was to finally be in Israel.
After a few moments of pleasantries, Yehoshua began the briefing. “For a while now, we have been trying to find a way to convince the Ukrainian government to allow us to bring the remaining Jews of Ukraine to Israel. There are close to fifty thousand that we believe would come here given the increased hostilities and imminent threats to their safety. Most of them are located in the cities of Odessa, Kiev, Donetsk, and Uman. And if given the chance, we believe the Mossad could arrange for a mass immigration here in just a few days. The problem is, as you know, that President Kovalenko is terrified of appearing weak in the face of the “global Jewish conspiracy” and believes that bowing to Israeli pressure to release his Jews will lead to his downfall. That’s why his government has outlawed any Ukrainian citizens from immigrating to Israel. He honestly might not be wrong considering how the sentiment of anti-Semitism has taken hold of the country. Once again, there are Jews stuck on this cursed continent of Europe who we want to bring home to Israel, but we can’t.”
Eitan and Vera hung on every word. Yet, for the life them, neither could fathom what further role they could possibly play. After all, if the government of Israel and its friends in DC could not solve this issue, what could they possibly do?
Yehoshua could see the puzzled look on Vera’s face. He continued with the explanation, “After exploring every possible scenario, our staff in Jerusalem concluded that our best option would be to exploit a weakness of the president and use it as a bargaining chip. To be honest, we had very little luck finding anything we could use on him, but what you were able to discover provides some ammunition for us with regard to Mrs. Kovalenko,” Yehoshua stated with a bit of excitement.
Eitan nodded his head and wanted to interject, but he restrained himself. Instead, Yehoshua continued.
“If the State of Israel accuses the first lady of Ukraine of being a Nazi, it will fall on deaf ears. The world will say they are tired of hearing about Nazis from us. Our friends in Europe have no interest in meddling with Ukraine. They are all suffering from Ukraine fatigue, and it’s the last thing they want to hear about. The US isn’t any more interested, but perhaps there we have an opportunity to shift the dialogue.”
“Shift the dialogue? What does that mean?” Eitan asked quizzically.
“How would he do that?” Eitan asked.
“With Vera’s story. We have to get her in front of the most powerful man in the world. The one person who can force the hand of the Ukrainians,” Yehoshua answered.
“Superman?” Eitan answered sarcastically.
“Close. The President of the United States,” Yehoshua countered.
“And I suppose you all can arrange that,” Eitan continued.
“It turns out that the Gulf State leaders are going to be in DC next week for a ceremony at the White House honoring the Abraham Accords. Our prime minister will be there as well, obviously. We have been told that the US president will host the Arab leaders on a tour of the Holocaust Museum in DC. At the end of the tour, it is customary for world leaders to meet with a couple of Holocaust survivors,” Yehoshua explained.
“We have prevailed upon the museum director to consider Vera as one of those survivors. This will be her opportunity to tell him what she knows about Lany Kovalenko. And you, Eitan, will be her aide to make sure the president hears clearly every word that Vera tells him.”
“That’s the plan?” Eitan said incredulously.
“Well, that is the beginning of the plan,” Yehoshua answered with a wry shrug.
“Then what? Do you expect the president to threaten the Ukrainians?”
“Our experts know this president. He has had a relationship with Israel for decades. He knew Golda Meir. He practically mentions her in every conversation. We believe that he understands Jewish history and respects it. And hopefully after he meets Vera, he will help us,” Yehoshua answered.
“Help us how?” Eitan pressed further.
“The Ukrainian economy is in shambles. There has never been a time when they were more reliant on the United States than right now. Plus they are trying to fast track their admittance into NATO. They can’t do that without the president’s support. We need the president to give the Ukrainians a clear choice. Release their Jews to Israel, or lose US support.”
“And you think we can convince him of that?” Eitan asked.
“I think she can,” Yehoshua said smiling in Vera’s direction. “I believe her story and her courage can move mountains.”
For the first time, Vera opened her mouth and expressed her thoughts. “My story is my story. Either he wants to hear it or he doesn’t. I will tell him what happened to me, and we will see if he is the man you think he is,” she said confidently.
“Yes we will, Vera. Yes we will,” Yehoshua responded while placing his arm around her. “We are so fortunate that you are willing to do this for your people. Thank you, Vera.”
Noam, Eli, and Eitan nodded in agreement.