Israel Braces for New Wave of Russian Aliyah Amidst Ukraine Crisis

[Petr]

Israel braces for new wave of Russian aliyah amidst Ukraine crisis

***

www.haaretz.com

Israel Braces for New Wave of Russian Aliyah Amidst Ukraine Crisis​

As Putin further limits democracy and the economy collapses under sanctions, Russian Jews are inquiring about starting new lives in Israel, but some caution against publicizing the information

Mar. 8, 2022 6:09 PM

With planeloads of Jewish refugees from Ukraine landing at Ben-Gurion International Airport this week, Israel is also starting to gear up for a big jump in aliyah from the very country responsible for putting these new immigrants on the run: Russia.

“We anticipate that there will be no small number of Russian Jews who will be applying to immigrate to Israel because of the situation,” said Netta Peleg-Briskin, the director of Nativ – the special department in the Prime Minister’s Office responsible for immigration from the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

According to Peleg-Briskin, somewhere between 12,000 and 13,000 Russian Jews have recently expressed interest in immigrating to Israel and are waiting to open aliyah files. Nativ has 10 consuls stationed in Russia who determine eligibility for aliyah.

Briskin-Peleg was not willing to forecast how many Russians she believed would immigrate to Israel in the near future, saying it would be irresponsible to cite a number.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, said Peleg-Briskin, Nativ had issued 1,400 immigrant visas to Russians. The recipients, she noted, had already applied for aliyah before the war erupted. Because Aeroflot, the Russian airline, has stopped operating international flights, it is becoming increasingly difficult for Russian Jews to leave the country.

Other officials involved in aliyah cautioned against publishing information about Jews fleeing Russia for fear it might prompt Russian President Vladimir Putin to respond by not letting them out. Although Jews in Russia are in less physical danger than those in Ukraine, many are deeply concerned about the disintegration of democracy in their country and the collapse of the economy due to international sanctions.

In recent years, Russia has been the single largest source of immigrants to Israel. In 2021, more than 7,700 immigrants from Russia arrived in Israel – more than a quarter of the total.

Russian immigration to Israel rose dramatically after 2017, when Israel passed a law that allows immigrants to receive an Israeli passport – rather than a temporary travel document – as soon as they arrive in the country. This was particularly advantageous for Russians, who need visas to enter countries in the European Union, whereas Israeli passport holders do not. The legislation was initiated by Yisrael Beiteinu, a party that draws most of its support from Israel’s Russian-speaking community.

Then-Interior Minister Arye Dery introduced new regulations in 2020, after it came to light that nearly half of those who immigrated to Israel after the passport law was introduced left soon afterward, and that a large number had already cashed in on government benefits available to new immigrants. The new rules limited the validity of passports handed out to new immigrants to one year. After that, immigrants were required to prove that Israel was their “center of life” if they wished to renew their passports.

According to Professor Sergio DellaPergola, a leading demographer of the Jewish world, the “core” Jewish population of Russia is 150,000. This figure refers to individuals who identify as Jewish and affiliate themselves with no other religion, and it broadly overlaps with halakhic Jews – individuals born to Jewish mothers or converted by Orthodox rabbis.

According to the Law of Return, any individual with at least one Jewish grandparent, the spouse of a Jew or a Jew by choice converted in a recognized Jewish community is eligible to immigrate to Israel and receive automatic citizenship. DellaPergola estimates that 600,000 Russians qualify for the Law of Return.

He noted that nearly 90 percent of those eligible for aliyah left Russia after the Soviet Union collapsed. “Those who remained apparently had good reason to remain, so I don’t see them all rushing to make aliyah right now, although it is reasonable to assume there will be an increase.”

 

[Rawhide "Doug" Kobayashi]

Aliyah creates more downward pressure on housing in Israel, which already has an enormous birthrate: One can see this rapidly leading to an escalation in the conflict in Israel, perhaps another Intifada entirely (lord knows Ukrainian Jews aren't the most ecumenical towards Palestinians either).

 

[aragorn]

Zelinsky is a Jew, shouldnt he not considered aliyah?

 

[JJ Cale]

You can't throw them out, but if there's a war they can leave while all others are conscripted.

 

[Gawn Chippin]

It should be of no surprise that Zelinski isn't threatening his own people with conscription

 

[Petr]

Ukraine war has caused a huge surge in aliyah to Israel – from Russia

***

www.haaretz.com

Ukraine War Has Caused a Huge Surge in Aliyah to Israel – From Russia​

According to government figures, 50 percent more immigrants and potential immigrants are arriving from Russia than from Ukraine since the start of the war and the tough global sanctions against Putin's regime

New immigrants arriving at Ben Gurion Airport from Ukraine last month. Credit: Hadas Parush

Judy Maltz

Apr. 7, 2022

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, Israel braced itself for a major spike in immigration from the country under attack. What it did not expect was an even greater wave of immigration from the country that launched the war.

Internal government figures obtained by Haaretz show that the number of immigrants and potential immigrants landing in Israel from Russia in the past two months far exceeds the number of immigrants and potential immigrants from Ukraine.

The figures were compiled by the National Security Council, which operates under the auspices of the Prime Minister’s Office and has been tasked with assessing the potential for aliyah, or immigration to Israel, from Ukraine and Russia given the state of war between the two countries.

The figures reveal that since the start of the war on February 24 and until the middle of this week, a total of 8,371 immigrants and potential immigrants from Ukraine have landed in Israel. Of this total, 3,621 had already been approved for aliyah and came with immigrant visas, while 4,750 were given special permission to come to Israel – based on initial indications that they qualified for aliyah under the Law of Return – and complete all the required paperwork once they landed.

Because immigrants coming from Russia are not eligible for this special “aliyah express” track, those who prefer not to wait months to complete their paperwork have been arriving in Israel on tourist visas and starting the process upon arrival.

According to the NSC figures, a total of 12,593 immigrants and potential immigrants from Russia have landed in Israel since the start of the war. Of these, 2,450 had already been approved for aliyah and came with immigrant visas, while 10,143 arrived on tourist visas.

For comparison's sake, in all of 2021, only 7,700 Russians made Aliyah.

According to a senior official involved in aliyah, the government estimates that more than 90 percent of the Russian arrivals are eligible for aliyah under the Law of Return. “There is no reason for them to come to Israel, of all places, unless they are eligible for aliyah, considering how many other countries they can go to,” the official said.

As proof, the official noted that thousands had already set up appointments at local branches of the Interior Ministry to change their status from tourist to immigrant. Because of this flood of requests for status change, there are currently no appointments available at Interior Ministry branches for months.

Israeli officials based in Russia have also reported a huge increase in the number of aliyah files being opened there. The officials are reluctant to speak publicly about the large number of Jews fleeing Russia for fear that the Russian authorities might try to stop them.

The exodus has been attributed mainly to fears of economic hardship arising from the harsh global sanctions imposed on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine.

Dramatic slowdown

This surge in immigration from Russia coincides with a dramatic slowdown in the pace of aliyah from Ukraine. A key indicator is the sharp decline in the number of Jewish refugees from Ukraine awaiting flights to Israel at special facilities set up for them by the Jewish Agency in western Ukraine and several bordering countries.

As of midweek, there were just over 1,300 refugees being sheltered in these facilities in Moldova, Hungary, Romania, Poland and Ukraine. In mid-March, there were more than 3,200.

The number of organized flights carrying Ukrainian refugees to Israel has dropped as well. Last week, the Jewish Agency ran 10 organized flights, while this week there were only five. Not all refugees from Ukraine have been arriving in Israel on these organized flights, however; some – though only a small share – have been arriving independently or with the help of private organizations.

This week, Aliyah and Integration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata predicted that a total of somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000 immigrants from Ukraine and Russia would arrive in Israel by the end of June. Given current aliyah trends from Ukraine at least, that seems unlikely.

“It is premature to analyze a mega-event still taking place, but what we can say is that while the total number of refugees fleeing Ukraine is growing, the pace has slowed down – maybe because the fighting is not as severe,” said Yigal Palmor, head of international relations at the Jewish Agency. “And this affects the number of Jews leaving as well.”

He noted that many of those Ukrainians eligible for aliyah have been reluctant to leave their homeland because this would entail separating their families. The Ukrainian authorities are not allowing men aged 18 to 60 to leave the country, with only a few exceptions.

“Those who have been predicting an aliyah of hundreds of thousands will definitely have to give some explanations,” Palmor added.

One flight a week

The International Fellowship for Christians and Jews – an organization active in bringing Jews from Ukraine to Israel in recent years – set up a special office in Moldova a month ago to assist Jewish refugees fleeing from the nearby city of Odessa.

“In the past seven to 10 days, we have witnessed a drastic drop in the number of Jewish refugees crossing the border here in Moldova – from hundreds a day to a trickle of 20 to 30,” said Benny Hadad, head of aliyah operations at the Fellowship.

The Fellowship had been operating six refugee flights a week to Israel soon after the war broke out. This week, said Hadad, there were only two flights, and only one is scheduled for next week.

Hadad attributed the drop in aliyah to the fact that those Jews who wanted to leave Ukraine had already gotten out. “That doesn’t mean we’re packing up here,” he said, noting that the situation across the border was still very dynamic.

According to the Law of Return, any individual with at least one Jewish grandparent – as well as that individual’s immediate family – is eligible to immigrate to Israel and receive automatic citizenship. Some 200,000 Ukrainians are believed to be eligible for aliyah under the Law of Return, although the country’s “core Jewish population” – individuals who identify as Jewish and affiliate with no other religion – is estimated at only about 43,000. The potential for aliyah from Russia is, therefore, much greater. About 600,000 Russians are believed to be eligible, and the core Jewish population of that country is estimated at 200,000.

A report commissioned by the Jewish Agency and submitted this week lists some of the reasons Ukrainian refugees who are eligible for aliyah have not exercised their right to immigrate. These include their not identifying as Jewish or being aware that they are eligible; the high cost of transportation to Israel compared with transportation to countries in Europe, as well as the lack of awareness that they are eligible for free flights to Israel; the perceived high cost of living in Israel compared with even wealthy European countries; the perceived poor security situation in Israel, especially in recent weeks; and the fact that many of these refugees hope to return to Ukraine as soon as possible, which makes Europe a better place to wait out the war.

“In many cases, it still appears that the disadvantages outweigh the advantages and that most of those who would potentially make aliyah have already done so or are in the process of it,” concluded the report, which was prepared by the intelligence division of Tel Aviv-based Max Security Solutions.

 

[Petr]

https://www.jpost.com/aliyah/article-707566

More than 20k olim since the war broke out; almost half are from Russia​

The war between Russia and Ukraine is sending out refugees from both sides.​

By ZVIKA KLEIN

MAY 24, 2022 19:43

Since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war, more than twenty-one thousand Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian individuals, eligible for the Israeli Law of Return, have entered Israel and most of them are already Israeli citizens.

Expectations versus reality​

Yet even though there were expectations of hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Ukraine - almost half of the immigrants are from Russia. 21,404 entitled to the Right of Return have arrived in Israel since the Russian-Ukraine broke out in February, most of them have already officially become Israeli citizens - according to data from the Ministry of Aliyah and Absorption on Tuesday.

According to the ministry, 1,153 of those who are entitled to make aliyah have still not finished their immigration process. 10,019 of the immigrants are from Ukraine, 9,777 are from Russia and 455 made aliyah from Belarus. On Monday, 211 new immigrants arrived in Israel from these countries.

Moving away or visiting home?​

The Jerusalem Post spoke at the beginning of the week to about a dozen new immigrants from Russia who have arrived in Israel in the past few months and left for different reasons. Most of them have already returned to the Jewish state and most of the others intend to return in the near future.

“I don't know any recent immigrants from Russia who have returned to Russia with no future plans to come back to Israel,” said Alex, a Russian Jew who made aliyah recently from Moscow. “Most of the people returned to Russia for some time because the decision to come to Israel was urgent and not well-prepared.”

These olim (new immigrants) feel the need to speak up as a result of public discussion in Israel after the Post’s inquiry a month ago claiming that some 1,800 of the Russian Jews who immigrated to Israel since the war began have returned to Russia with their new Israeli passports. Alex and the rest of the new immigrants who spoke to the Post have asked for their names not to be revealed because they are afraid of being threatened by the Russian regime.

 

[JJ Cale]

Zelinsky will be retiring in Miami soaking his toes in the sand, while maggots are still feeding on the dead goyim. Hmm . . . I wonder if possibly those returning to Russia were doing so because their DNA results didn't quite check out.

 

[Lord Osmund de Ixabert]

Correxion: Israel 'allegedly' braces for 'alleged' new wave of Russian Aliyah amidst 'alleged' Ukrainian crisis.

 

[Petr]

https://www.jpost.com/aliyah/article-709274

Over 25,000 olim in 'Immigrants Come Home' operation arrived in Israel​

By ZVIKA KLEIN

Published: JUNE 13, 2022 12:59

Aliyah and Integration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata revealed on Monday that since the beginning of operation Immigrants Come Home, over 25,000 new olim have arrived in Israel from Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Moldova.
...

Most of the new immigrants received temporary housing in hotels and later dispersed to various cities, closely accompanied by the ministry and local authorities.

The most receptive cities since the beginning of the operation have been Haifa (2,707 new immigrants), Netanya (2,438 new immigrants) and Tel Aviv-Jaffa (2,324 new immigrants).
...

Recent immigration​

On Sunday, The Jerusalem Post revealed that about 5,000 Jews have immigrated to Germany from Ukraine since the Russian invasion, according to Dr. Felix Klein, the federal government’s commissioner for Jewish life in Germany.

An Israeli rabbi serving in Germany many years said Sunday that “... it is, unfortunately, a loss for the State of Israel...These are people who dreamed of making aliyah, didn’t succeed and then called me and asked for assistance to bring them to Germany.” In his opinion, the Israeli government and national institutions “aren’t running the operation” the best way.

 

[Gawn Chippin]

Russia to attempt preventing the exodus of potential human shields?:

Israel Says Russia Threatens to Halt Jewish Agency Activity

(Bloomberg) -- Sign up for our Middle East newsletter and follow us @middleeast for news on the region.Most Read from BloombergNatural Gas Soars 700%, Becoming Driving Force in the New Cold WarCiti Says Oil May Collapse to $65 by the Year-End on RecessionOil Plummets Below $100 as Recession...

finance.yahoo.com

...A letter sent by the Israeli minister of immigration and absorption to interim Prime Minister Yair Lapid said that the agency had informed him of a directive issued by the Russian Justice Ministry halting its operations...

 

[Petr]

Russia’s Jews fear resurgent anti-Semitism amid Ukraine war

Jews have fled Russia in droves, but those who remain are scared of a return to the darkest days of discrimination.

www.politico.eu

Vladimir Khanin, an associate professor at Israel’s Ariel University and an expert on the Russian Jewish diaspora, said he estimates around a third of Jews living in Russia are currently “actively” expressing their opposition to the war; most “aren’t happy” with the situation, but are too scared to speak out. He estimates that only 10 to 15 percent of Jewish people in Russia support the war — partly because 70 percent of Russian Jews live in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and most are “more liberal, more modernized” and better educated than the average Russian, he said.

Unlike Russian Orthodox leader Patriarch Kirill, whom the EU mulled sanctioning over his support of Putin’s war, Jewish religious figures have been more critical. Berel Lazar, the chief rabbi of Russia who was previously known to be friendly with Putin, called for “peace” and offered to be a mediator in the conflict. Other leading Jewish figures have made similar appeals, including the President of the Federation of Jewish Communities Alexander Boroda.

Meanwhile, Moscow’s Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, under pressure from the authorities to back the war, fled the country two weeks after the conflict began. He now lives in exile in Israel, and has said he has no plans to return to Russia, though he will remain in his position.

 

[Petr]

Israel braced for influx of Ukrainian olim, but more Russians immigrated since invasion

***

www.haaretz.com

 

[Petr]

It is indeed significant that "celebrity rabbis" like Boruch Gorin are now ready to cut and run - for a long time, they used to be Putin's official favorites, and symbols of his philo-Semitic policy. (The Chabad especially played such a "Court Jew" role.) That even such types are now leaving gives me hope that Russian Jewish community will be seriously weakened, at the very least, and will no longer be able to play any noteworthy role in the Russian history:

https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-719086

Exodus from Russia: Will Israel accept thousands of fleeing Jews?​

DIASPORA AFFAIRS: Tens of thousands of Russian Jews say they want to make aliyah, but is Israel ready to accept them?​

By ZVIKA KLEIN

Published: OCTOBER 8, 2022 21:18


‘If anyone [any Jew] from our community asks me if they should make aliyah to Israel under the current circumstances, I tell the vast majority to leave,” Rabbi Boruch Gorin, head of the Public Relations Department of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Russia, told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday in a phone interview from Russia.

Gorin is a member of the Chabad movement and close to Russia’s Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar. The fact that Gorin would say such a thing publicly explains that Russia is in a very different place since President Vladimir Putin decided to draft men over the age of 18.

Gorin said that during this past Yom Kippur in Moscow, he saw about 20% fewer congregants than usual.

“It’s not a rumor; people are leaving Russia,” he said. “Most of those who have left or who plan to leave are people that have boys around that age of the draft, or [where] the father of the family may be at that age. These families are scared and frightened that the borders will be closed [for men].”

Asked whether he is considering leaving the country, Gorin responded that he was sent back to Russia by the Lubavitcher Rebbe after he left in 1991.

A new oleh from Russia told the Post on Thursday that “almost all the young [Jewish] men are trying to leave Russia. They are all either about to leave or they have left already. We don’t know when it will be forbidden for men to leave, but at the moment there are no restrictions.”

Asked whether the Jewish Agency is able to properly handle this situation while there is a court case against it in Russia, this new oleh answered that he thinks it is able to get the job done. “The Jewish Agency continues to operate in some form, and they are functioning. They reduced activity on the one hand, but on the other hand there is a lot going on online from their perspective.”

Yet there are two major difficulties, according to this oleh. “There is a problem with outbound flights from Moscow to Israel, and therefore it is difficult for people to make aliyah.” Another problem he pointed at is that “many Russians who immigrate to Israel aren’t permitted to open accounts in Israeli banks, because of the sanctions against Russia.”

In conversation with a senior agency official, it was explained to the Post that there are two approaches that they’ve identified among Russian Jews on the subject aliyah. The first approach states, “Don’t talk with us about leaving the motherland Russia.” These Jews try to show that they are even more loyal that the average Russian citizen. The second approach is, according to the official, of the Jews who want to look for a way out of Russia. “The community is divided,” he explained.

Another interesting trend in the Russian Jewish community is Jews who have recommitted to their roots. According to the senior official, the agency has seen a dramatic increase in requests to sign up for Jewish summer camps and Sunday schools that are operated by the agency. The sign-up rate is, according to the official, the highest it’s been in the past decade.

Asked how he explains this dramatic rise, the official said that “those who have already decided to stay understand that they must show themselves and their children that they belong to the Jewish community in a more active way. These Jews feel that it is necessary to show that they are rooted in the Russian Jewish community.”

AS REPORTED by the Post, Aliyah and Integration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata requested a budget of NIS 1 billion and received approval for only NIS 90 million in urgent funds for the new Russian olim. Expectations are of tens of thousands of Russian olim in the next few months.

“In the short term, the government will be credited with the quality of resources and services put into absorption of olim and the allocation of resources,” the agency official said.

Yet he has criticism regarding the long-term effect of Russian and Ukrainian aliyah in 2022. “We need to be able to absorb them as a country. If we have 2,500 people waiting for a Hebrew ulpan, then we have a problem. We are trying to get involved and to give a solution to the relevant ministries, but Israel had to be prepared for this situation – and it wasn’t.”

The responsibility for Hebrew ulpanim isn’t of the agency, but, rather, of the government. “There is an urgent need of 60 more classrooms for teaching Hebrew,” the agency source said.

As for the shortage of flights from Russia, the agency representative said that El Al is expected to make more flights available for this ongoing effort. He explained that even though reports speak of tens of thousands of Jews, or of those entitled to make aliyah, waiting to board a plane at any moment, the situation on the ground is less dramatic.

“There are seats on flights which we have booked ahead of time for October that are not yet finalized, since they don’t all want to immediately leave,” he said.

The agency official said that he knows of 2,500 future olim who have already received all approvals for aliyah. “Many of them just want a guarantee, a certificate, that shows that they are eligible to make aliyah. They want to know that they have an immigration visa to Israel, but don’t want to immigrate yet.”

He added that there are also those who call the agency’s call center and say that they “want to leave Russia now.” The official explained that “you can’t give service to someone who tells you they want a plane ticket for the next day.”

According to the agency, Nativ, Israel’s special government body in charge of connections with former Soviet Union countries, has been able to speed up the process for visas from nine months of waiting for a meeting to two months.

The agency won’t treat Russian Jews as refugees, as it did with Ukrainian Jews who fled the country.

“In terms of ability and eligibility, any Russian citizen can enter the State of Israel. They can leave Russia through any neighboring country and fly to Israel from there,” the agency official explained. “The agency’s opinion is that they [Russian Jews] should not be treated as refugees. We aren’t in a situation where we need to rescue 600,000 Jews. There are no battle zones in Russia.”

As reported earlier this week, the government approved a proposal to expedite the immigration of Russians who qualify under the Law of Return. In addition, the government authorized the agency to establish temporary camps in Finland and Azerbaijan for Russian Jews who seek to immigrate to Israel. Yet the senior agency official said that there are no temporary camps expected in the near future.

“We have offices in all of the neighboring countries and offer service there,” he said. He explained that there aren’t so many Russian Jews in these neighboring countries that it would be possible to rent hotel rooms for hundreds or thousands of them. “We received more than 2,000 new leads in the four days after Putin’s announcement, but after that we saw a drastic drop,” he said.

“Even though these are big numbers of olim, the agency and the State of Israel know how to handle this amount. We are not in a situation where we do not know how to respond,” the agency official stated.

According to the agency’s estimates, about 40,000 olim will arrive in 2022 from Russia alone. Till now and since the outbreak of the war, about 40,000 olim arrived from Ukraine and Russia together.

During this week’s cabinet meeting, Jewish Agency Chairman Doron Almog said that the funds allocated for the reception of emergency immigrants from Russia and Ukraine, of which NIS 200m. has been spent so far, were directed toward Ukrainian Jews (while most of the agency’s activities are outside of Israel).

“We need another NIS 300m. for activity in the next six months,” he said. The agency forecasts up to 6,000 immigrants per month in the next half a year, or 36,000 immigrants. Almog called upon the government to invest in this effort.

The agency official told the Post that “the agency, together with its partners from the Jewish world, had spent over NIS 200m. till now. The only thing that we expect from the government is to provide a safety net for this situation. The Jewish people in the Diaspora cannot finance all of this activity. It’s not an existing budget. The government must come into the conversation and increase the budget. Otherwise, the agency will be in a difficult situation.”

Members of the Israeli government have told the Post confidentially that “it doesn’t look as if Prime Minister Yair Lapid really cares about the aliyah from Russia. He isn’t as hands-on as former prime minister Naftali Bennett was.”

They added that “if Lapid would really want this aliyah to succeed, he would show a bit more of an interest and go out of his way to actually make sure that we can absorb them as a country.”•

 

[Petr]

70,000 people from 95 countries make aliyah in 2022

(JNS) - Some 70,000 people from 95 different countries immigrated to Israel in 2022 with the assistance of the Jewish Agency for Israel, in cooperation with the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration. It was the most olim in 23 years and a dramatic increase from 2021, when about 28,600 immigrants...

www.heritagefl.com

(JNS) - Some 70,000 people from 95 different countries immigrated to Israel in 2022 with the assistance of the Jewish Agency for Israel, in cooperation with the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration. It was the most olim in 23 years and a dramatic increase from 2021, when about 28,600 immigrants arrived in the country.

Jewish Agency data for the period between Jan. 1 and Dec. 1, 2022, shows that 37,364 olim arrived from Russia; 14,680 from Ukraine; 3,500 from North America, with assistance from Nefesh B'Nefesh; 2,049 from France; 1,993 from Belarus; 1,498 from Ethiopia as part of Operation Tzur Israel; 985 from Argentina; 526 from Great Britain; 426 from South Africa; and 356 from Brazil.

Israel must limit 'non-Jewish' immigration, new aliyah minister says

***

www.haaretz.com

Israel Must Limit 'non-Jewish' Immigration, New Aliyah Minister Says​

The newly-appointed far-right Minister Ofir Sofer laments the number of immigrants arriving from Russia and Ukraine to Israel who are not considered Jewish according to an Orthodox interpretation

Sam Sokol

Jan 2, 2023 3:21 pm IST

Complaining that the majority of new arrivals from Russia and Ukraine are not Jewish according to halakha, or Jewish religious law, newly-appointed Aliyah and Integration Minister Ofir Sofer declared on Sunday that Israel must take steps to limit non-Jewish immigration.

During an interview with national broadcaster Kan, Sofer asserted that the Law of Return needed to be amended, although he preferred “to find a way without legislation,” because some 40,000 out of 55,000 new immigrants from Russia and Ukraine are not halakhically Jewish.

“The gap needs to be reduced,” he stated.

According to the Jewish Agency, 37,364 new immigrants arrived in Israel from Russia – along with 14,680 from Ukraine – in 2022. Immigration from both countries has risen precipitously in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine earlier this year.

Concerned that too many immigrants in recent years are not considered Jewish according to halakha, the religious parties allied with Prime Minister Netanyahu have demanded that the law be changed so that only individuals with at least one Jewish parent would be eligible for aliyah.

As such, they have called for the cancelation of the law's "grandchild clause," which governs eligibility for aliyah and Israeli citizenship. Under the current Law of Return, an individual with at least one Jewish grandparent is eligible to immigrate to Israel and receive automatic citizenship.

Last month, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich declared in a radio interview that the current immigration policy was “one of the biggest threats to Israeli demography, to the country’s Jewish identity and assimilation.”

“This is a social and Jewish time bomb that must be dealt with. We insist on it and will continue to insist on it,” Smotrich told ultra-Orthodox radio station Kol Barama.

His comments seemed to be a response to then Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to downplay the possibility of changing the law.

Speaking with NBC’s Chuck Todd, Netanyahu stated that while the issue would lead to what he called “a big debate,“ he has “pretty firm views” and “I doubt we’ll have any changes.”

However, despite his comments, coalition agreements signed by Netanyahu’s Likud Party contain clauses requiring the new government to draft legislative amendments to the Law of Return.

If the religious parties set to be in Israel’s next governing coalition have their way, nearly 3 million people with Jewish roots – the overwhelming majority of them from the United States – could lose their right to immigrate to Israel, according to Prof. Emeritus Sergio DellaPergola, Israel’s leading demographer.

In 2019, Israel announced that Jewish immigrants to Israel were outnumbered by non-Jewish immigrants for the first time, releasing figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics showing that 17,700 of the 32,600 migrants who moved to Israel in 2018 came under the Law of Return but were listed as “having no religion.”

Such immigrants, hailing largely from the former Soviet Union and Baltic states, count Jewish ancestry but are ineligible to marry as Jews, for example, under the state-controlled rabbinic court system.

According to CBS statistics published by the Ynet news site this November, 72 percent of immigrants to Israel from the former Soviet Union in 2020 were not Jewish.

All told, there are already more than 400,000 people, mostly from the former Soviet Union, living in Israel who are not considered Jewish by the Chief Rabbinate. For the past several years, immigration from the former Soviet Union has again been on the rise, edging out France and other Western European nations as the source for the largest number of new immigrants.

Sofer is not the only figure in the new government with influence over immigration policy who has spoken out against non-halakhic Jewish aliyah.

Avi Maoz, the head of the far-right Noam Party, was recently appointed the head of the Eastern European aliyah agency, Nativ. He has spoken about changing the law so that those whose only claim to being Jewish from a single grandparent can immigrate to Israel exclusively in the framework of family reunification. In other words, only if the immigrant’s Jewish grandfather lives in Israel.

 

[Petr]

https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-732273

During January 2023, most of the immigrants to Israel came from Russia with more than 5,500 olim, an increase of 637% compared to the number of immigrants in the corresponding period during 2022.

According to a Jewish Agency report obtained by The Jerusalem Post, during January 2023, the number of olim arriving in Israel through the Jewish Agency was 6,622, which is 211% more than the amount of olim during January 2022.

 

[Petr]

15,000 Ukrainian Jews Have Made Aliyah Since Russian Invasion

Aliyah, the ingathering of the exiles, has been accelerated by wars and rumors of wars, in particular Russia's war on Ukraine.

www.israeltoday.co.il

15,000 Ukrainian Jews Have Made Aliyah Since Russian Invasion​

By Pesach Benson

February 21, 2023

(TPS) Ahead of the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Israeli officials reported that in the last year, 15,000 Ukrainian Jews have immigrated to Israel.

The numbers were based on figures provided by the Ministry of Immigration and Absorption, and by the Jewish Agency, a quasi-governmental agency which facilitates Jewish immigration.

According to their figures, 24% were under the age of 18, 405 were 18-35, 37% were 36-65, and 21% were 66 or older.

After Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, the Ministry of Immigration and Jewish Agency launched a “Coming Home” operation, setting up emergency centers at border crossings. Ukrainian men of fighting age have not been allowed to leave the country.

Overall, immigration to Israel surged in 2022 in large part due to the war and decreased numbers the previous year because of the COVID pandemic.

Over 70,000 immigrants arrived in Israel in 2022, the highest figure in 23 years and more than double the number from last year. According to the Jewish Agency, almost three-quarters of 2022’s immigrants came from either Russia, Ukraine or Belarus.

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, the Israeli population grew 2.2 percent in 2022.

Shortly before the invasion, Israeli officials assessed that around 75,000 Jews in Ukraine would qualify for Israeli citizenship through the Law of Return. The largest concentrations of Jews are in and around the cities of Kyiv, Odessa, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk.

 

[Petr]

https://www.israelhayom.com/2023/03/01/israel-sees-record-breaking-non-jewish-aliyah-since-outbreak-of-ukraine-war/

'Non-Jewish' aliyah reaches new high amid Ukraine war​

Data shows that almost 50,000 immigrants who are not considered Jewish by the Chief Rabbinate's halachic interpretation of Judaism moved to Israel from Russia or Ukraine since February 2022.​

By Hanan Greenwood

Published on 03-01-2023 08:08

Israel welcomed a record number of immigrants who are not halachically Jewish according to Orthodox Judaism over the past year, a report by the Population and Immigration Authority shows.

Since the war in Ukraine began in February 2022, there has been a particular increase in the number of immigrants from Russia. This stems from the severe sanctions imposed on the country and the inability of Russian citizens to move to other countries which became off-limits for them.

Data showed that of the 51,000 people who immigrated from Russia, around 36,500 are not Jewish under the criteria set by the rabbinical authorities in Israel. Similarly, of the 14,000 people who moved from Ukraine, about 8,500 are not Jewish under the criteria set by Israel's Chief Rabbinate, which follows an Orthodox halachic interpretation.

In other words, almost 50,000 immigrants who arrived in Israel since February 2022 are not considered Jewish but are eligible to make aliyah under the Law of Return, in particular the "grandchild clause" that defines them as Jews based on their grandparents even if they themselves don't consider themselves practicing members of the Jewish faith.

The number marks the highest since 1991, a year that saw a record-breaking influx of immigrants, mostly not Jewish, from the Soviet Union after the fall of the Iron Curtain.

The non-Jewish aliyah continues and since the beginning of 2023, Israel has welcomed 8,000 more non-Jewish immigrants under the criteria set by the rabbinate, a figure that brings the number of Israel's non-Jewish and non-Arab population to about 520,000.

The grandchild clause, which a person with at least one Jewish grandparent to move to Israel, has been a source of contention in recent weeks as the new government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu seeks to cancel it due to fears of it significantly altering Israel's demographic makeup.

Dr. Netanel Fisher, who conducted the analysis for the Population and Immigration Authority, said that the data necessitates an urgent public discourse.

"In my opinion, there is no choice but to update the Law of Return," he said. "Even those who disagree cannot deny the fact that the Law of Return has become a law for non-Jewish immigration. The current wave of immigration indicates that any large aliyah wave in the future will be non-Jewish in nature, so Israel should start preparing for the dire consequences of the change in the nature of immigration to Israel."

 

[Lord Osmund de Ixabert]

I should just like to add one very important point,—too often neglected, in our discourse on this topic. To wit:

Death to Israel!

May the Israelis be crushed under the feet of Islam!

Allahu akbar!

 

[Petr]

Aliyah from Russia spikes amid dramatic drop in Western immigration to Israel

***

www.haaretz.com

Aliyah From Russia Spikes Amid Dramatic Drop in Western Immigration to Israel​

Real estate prices are particularly an issue, as is the uncertainty surrounding the Netanyahu government's planned judicial overhaul and the accompanying protests

Judy Maltz

May 7, 2023

The first quarter of the year saw a downturn in aliyah from almost every country in the world except Russia. But with Russian immigration tripling in the period because of the war on Ukraine, the overall figure for the quarter was up.

Sharp drops were registered in immigration from France and the United States, two countries that have been key sources of aliyah in recent years. Analysts are attributing the downturn to Israel's rising cost of living – especially real estate prices – and growing political instability marked by the protests against the hard-right government's plan to weaken the judiciary.

According to Jewish Agency figures obtained by Haaretz, 18,610 immigrants arrived in Israel between January and March this year, an increase of 24 percent from the same period last year. Immigration from Russia accounted for more than three-quarters of the total.

Many Russians have been fleeing their country to avoid being drafted into the army for the war on Ukraine, and amid the growing crackdown on human rights by the Putin regime.

Immigration from Ukraine, by contrast, was down sharply in the quarter, after spiking last year following the Russian invasion. Many Ukrainians eligible for aliyah under the Law of Return have either fled abroad or returned to Ukraine. In the first three months of the year, only 861 Ukrainians immigrated to Israel, a plunge of 87 percent from the same period last year.

Asked for comment on the overall downtrend, the Jewish Agency said in a statement: “The Aliyah process is typically not immediate, and therefore a reflection of current trends on Aliyah numbers takes time. The Jewish Agency is working together with the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration on a variety of new initiatives to promote and support Aliyah.”

Immigration from the United States hit a nearly 50-year high in 2021, with more than 4,000 Americans moving to Israel. That followed a significant slowdown in 2020 that was attributed to the global pandemic.

Israeli immigration officials had expressed confidence that 2021's high numbers could be sustained, but the drop in aliyah from the United States in 2022 and the first quarter suggests that this view was overly optimistic.

In the first three months of this year, 391 American Jews moved to Israel, down by one-third from the same period last year. A spokeswoman for Nefesh B’Nefesh, the private organization that facilitates aliyah from North America, said the downturn reflected a readjustment back to pre-COVID levels.

“Aliyah continues throughout the year from both overseas and from within Israel, so it is best to compare the annual aliyah numbers on a whole when ascertaining trends and changes,” she said.

But according to Prof. Chaim Waxman, a professor of sociology in the behavioral sciences at Hadassah College and a professor emeritus at Rutgers University, both the high cost of living and recent political developments also account for the drop.

“The cost of apartments in Israel is extremely high, and this is a major deterrent,” he said. “Aside from that, there are many concerns about some of the people holding leadership positions in the country, and that was evident even before the current wave of mass protests.”

He noted that Israel’s high-tech industry was once considered a major draw for American immigrants, “but because of everything happening here in recent months, Israel is now less of a startup nation than it used to be.”

French immigration was down even more sharply in the quarter. According to the Jewish Agency figures, only 178 Jews immigrated to Israel from France in the first three months of the year, a tumble of nearly two-thirds.

Dov Maimon, a fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute who specializes in French aliyah, attributed this downturn to what he called Israel's prohibitively high cost of living as well as the uncertainty surrounding the planned judicial overhaul and the accompanying protests. The key factors that once drove French aliyah were a weak local economy and antisemitism, he noted.

“Those problems persist and have even gotten worse,” Maimon said. “But the reason they’re not generating more aliyah is that Israel has less pull these days.”

Aliyah from South Africa, which spiked during COVID, was also down in the quarter, when 97 South African Jews moved to Israel, a fall of 27 percent. Dorron Kline, the CEO of Telfed, an organization that assists immigrants from South Africa, said the downturn was simply a return to pre-COVID levels of aliyah.

“Until COVID, many South African Jews believed that if things got really bad in the country, they could always jump on a plane to Israel,” he said. “COVID proved that this wasn’t always the case, and that’s what pushed up the numbers so much during COVID.”

Asked whether he believed the mass protests and questions about the future of Israeli democracy played a role in the drop this year, he responded: “Very little.”

Aliyah from Britain fell more than 50 percent in the quarter, with only 83 British citizens moving to Israel.