Adeel Malik
One of the largest mobile companies in Ukraine has been sending users a incredible message welcoming them to “Palestine” when they land at Ben-Gurion International Airport in occupied Palestine, largely referred to as Israel, according to Israeli daily Israel Hayom and reported by Quds News Network.
Anna Pozinsky arrived in Ukraine for a visit and purchased a local SIM card for her device. Upon turning it on when her flight landed in Tel Aviv, Pozinsky was shocked to find a message in Ukrainian reading
“Welcome to Palestine.”
The message made no reference to Israel.
Pozinsky told Israel Hayom that the company responsible for the message, Kyivstar, is large and “well-known.”
“When I boarded the plane, I turned off my device and didn’t switch out the [Ukrainian] SIM card for an Israeli one. The next day, I turned on the device and saw the message,” she said.
Posinsky said she believed it reflected “politics in general” in Ukraine.
Ilana Valdman Eshcol, director of organizational development for the right-wing Zionist organization Im Tirtzu, who was contacted about the incident, said that by sending such a message, “leading telecom companies in Ukraine were taking blatant steps to present an unacceptable political stance.”
According to Valdman Eshcol, “We cannot describe what would have happened if Israel had sent a message to its citizens landing in Ukraine welcoming them to Russia. It would be appropriate for the Ukrainian ambassador to be summoned for clarification and take steps to rectify the situation.”
