A group of nine Israelis tourists was detained while crossing the border from Ukraine to Moldova after authorities misidentified a bag of salt found in their vehicle as a suspected illicit substance, according to an N12 News report on Thursday.
The group had been visiting Ukraine to visit the grave of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Ladi to pray for a member of the group who is a cancer patient, one of the tourists told N12, and were attempting to catch a flight home from Moldova on Wednesday when the incident occurred.
A Ukrainian border control officer searched the vehicle that the tour group was travelling in and placed a bag of what was later identified as salt on the floor of the vehicle.
Hadar Admoni, one of the tourists, told N12 that “she did not know whether it was his own bag, or a bag of salt that was in the vehicle and used by the travelers,” clarifying that she and her fellow travellers did not use and were not carrying any illicit substances.
The officer then called the police, who brought the Israelis to a local police station while they sent the bag and its contents for testing, confiscating their passports and forcing the group to stay in their vehicle in the parking lot overnight.
'This is antisemitism,' Admoni claimed
Admoni told N12 that the travellers were in “utter despair.” "We were in the cold all night in the car in the parking lot of their police headquarters. They left us and told us to sleep there. Without food, without drink, without telling us anything. It's crazy,” she said. “They didn't question us or anything. This is antisemitism. We are normal people."
The group contacted the Chabad of Odessa, MK Ze'ev Elkin, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar, and Sa’ar’s advisor Motti Franco for help resolving the situation.
Chabad of Odessa Rabbi, Rabbi Shneur Wigler, contacted Ukrainian authorities, who informed him that “they sent the suspicious bag to the lab and it turned out to be nothing - just a bag of salt," Wigler told N12.
Wigler added that investigators were still suspicious of the bag even after testing results revealed the innocent contents of the bag, which was why the group was detained for so long.
"It's a great heartache, and it's a story we encounter a lot," Wigler said, adding that Ukrainian officials were helpful and cooperative in efforts to release the passports of the Israeli tourists.
The following morning, after over 20 hours of detention and after contacting MK Elkin, who is responsible for Israel-Ukraine relations, and Foreign Minister Sa’ar, the Israelis were released.
"We were very stressed, and some were crying and were really traumatized. One of us almost fainted from the stress. My daughter had a panic attack," Admoni recounted. "We felt their hatred, as well as fear and helplessness, because they didn't talk to us. They knew in advance that there was nothing wrong."
The group missed their original flight back to Israel from Moldova and were forced to make alternative travel arrangements following their release from Ukrainian custody.