Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs Apologizes for Behaviour of Jewish Pilgrims in Uman

An official statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel, published on 16 September, reads that "the state of Israel expresses its sympathy with regard to the incident in Uman of 10 September, 2010 between the local residents and Israeli citizens and ended in the deportation of several Israeli nationals."

The statement also expresses hope that "such incidents will never happen again in the future" and the confidence that "the unpleasant incident will not affect the two countries' friendly relations of many years."

This year, about 30 thousand Bratslav Hasidim came to Uman to celebrate the Jewish new year and the 200th anniversary of the death of the founder of Bratslav Hasidism, Rabbi Nakhman. On 10 September, a conflict broke out between some pilgrims and local residents. The Hasidim refused to stop shouting when the land lady asked them to and they beat a man who was trying to call the police. A passer-by who tried to defend the man was stabbed. Another incident occurred between the Hasidim and activists of the Jewish Evangelical Church.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 10 pilgrims were deported to Israel and banned from entering Ukraine for five years.