Abstract: This article examines why Ukrainian Jewish refugee women who arrived in Warsaw after Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine refused or postponed aliyah to Israel following the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023, and the subsequent Gaza war. Drawing on qualitative semi-structured interviews conducted in Warsaw between November 2024 and February 2025, the study identifies trauma-related fear, heightened risk perceptions, and anticipatory anxiety about renewed violence as key factors shaping decisions to remain in Poland. Over time, respondents developed a tangible sense of rootedness in Warsaw, reinforced by sustained assistance from local Jewish communities, non-Jewish civil society, and public institutions. In respondents’ accounts, the depth and continuity of this support emerge as a distinctive feature of the Warsaw context when compared with more episodic forms of aid described in wider refugee research. At the same time, interviewees reported enduring emotional, cultural, and spiritual ties to Israel, reflecting transnational and situational forms of belonging rather than a linear model of “return.” The findings complicate conventional assumptions about homeland, safety, and migration choice, and contribute to debates on diaspora identity under conditions of overlapping geopolitical crises.
