By: Dr Vinko Gorenak
Do you still remember the pompous arrival of a group of severely injured children from Gaza, who came to Slovenia at the end of last year under the direction of Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon? As we know, some of them already had moustaches – but let’s leave that aside; officially, they were children. Anton Šturbej, a Member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia from Rogatec, submitted a parliamentary question to the Government of the Republic of Slovenia regarding the children from Gaza.
The response from the Government of the Republic of Slovenia is essentially as follows: “On October 13th, 2024, ten patients arrived in the Republic of Slovenia for rehabilitation, accompanied by seven attendants. The rehabilitation period lasted between 27 and 51 days. For one patient, due to the severity of their injuries, rehabilitation was extended and concluded on January 24th, 2025, meaning it lasted a total of 103 days. Rehabilitation has been completed for all except one patient, whose mother, on November 10th, 2024, decided to apply for international protection and, at the same time, to prematurely end the treatment in Slovenia. Three patients, together with three attendants, returned to Egypt, from where they had arrived. Four individuals left Slovenia on December 3rd, 2024, and another two on January 24th, 2025. Eight persons applied for international protection – three minor children and their three attendants (parents), as well as two young adults aged 19 and 21. Currently, six people remain in the asylum centre. In addition, an unaccompanied minor also expressed the intention to submit a request for international protection but left the asylum centre before doing so. One attendant (a mother) with her daughter left Soča without notifying anyone on November 9th, 2024.”
They lied: Among the children were also adults
Let’s “translate” this official response from the Government of the Republic of Slovenia into plain and understandable language. In short: They lied. They claimed they were bringing severely injured children to Slovenia, but now they admit that two of them were aged 19 and 21 – according to our laws, they are not children. Official rehabilitation reportedly lasted between 27 and 51 days. If these were truly severely injured children, that seems like far too short a rehabilitation time, at least in my lay opinion.
Now let’s sum up the numbers. Seventeen people were brought to Slovenia: ten injured individuals and seven companions. Only six people – three patients and three attendants – returned to Egypt. The remaining eleven have, in one way or another, used the situation to apply for asylum or international protection, or have simply disappeared – most likely into other EU countries. You can judge the results of Tanja Fajon’s big humanitarian operation for yourself. As far as I am concerned, this was mostly assistance in illegal entry into Slovenia – and thus into the European Union – not a humanitarian action.