Eastern Europe
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) released a statement condemning the choice.
Travelers paid no heed to Ukrainian and Israeli warnings not to take part in the annual Rosh Hashanah pilgrimage.
Israel’s president called on the international community to block Iran during the ceremony with representatives of five countries.
“The hatred that destroyed millions of lives in the past is still alive. We cannot allow the shadows of the dark past to return to our daily lives,” said Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonyte.
The remains of 12 adults and 11 children were uncovered in the town of Strešyn in the country’s southeastern Gomel region, which was occupied by the Nazi Germany in August 1941.
Albania “has shown, again and again, that you stand with the people of Israel as we fight to defend our borders and our civilization,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said.
Anton (Matisyahu) Samborsky was drafted in May, a week after the birth of his first child.
Herzog is also slated to travel to Albania, marking the first official visit of a representative of the Jewish state to the Muslim-majority nation.
Thousands are expected to show up anyway ahead of Rosh Hashanah.
While Tehran is said to have provided Moscow with hundreds of drones since invading Ukraine in 2022, the supply of ballistic missiles represents a deeper involvement in the war.
Travelers will instead fly to Romania or Poland and proceed on the ground leg of their voyage from there.
Ankara intelligence identified Liridon Rexhepi as an “operator of a financial network supporting Mossad’s activities in the country.”
