New immigrants from North America arrive at Ben Gurion Airport in central Israel on a special “aliyah flight” on behalf of the Nefesh Benefesh organization on August 14, 2019. (Photo: Flash90)
According to an interim report from the Israeli Ministry of Immigration and Integration, between January 1 and May 15 of this year, Israel accepted 11,631 new immigrants, of which around 70 percent, or about 8,000, were from Russia.
The new data was presented at a meeting of the Knesset Committee on Emigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs on Monday.
Immigration from North America and Western Europe is expected to reach 15,500, more than 2.5 times the number in 2023, due in large part to a sharp rise in anti-Semitism since the Hamas massacre on October 7. Only 700 new immigrants have arrived in Israel from Western Europe so far this year, the majority from France, followed by the UK. Even fewer Jews (564) have made aliyah (moved to Israel) from the US during that time.
According to Israeli officials, the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI), the government agency that handles immigration to Israel, expects an additional 8,000 new immigrants from Western countries to arrive in Israel by September this year.
“We are seeing an unprecedented wave of anti-Semitism around the world, including incidents of physical danger to expatriate Jews and Israelis abroad. We all see what is happening on university campuses,” said Oded Fore, chairman of the Knesset Committee on Immigration, Absorption and Expatriate Affairs.
Anti-Semitism has been on the rise across Western Europe and North America since October 7, when thousands of Palestinian terrorists invaded southern Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and kidnapping 250 hostages, including their bodies, in Gaza.
A recent report by the Anti-Defamation League and Tel Aviv University found a dramatic increase in anti-Semitism in Western countries, including the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Canada and Germany. In the United States alone, anti-Semitism is expected to double in 2023, with more than half of anti-Semitic incidents recorded after October 7th.
“This has come as a shock to the Jewish community, and despite the many hardships, Israel is the only place where we can, must and will be able to be safe as Jews and Israelis,” Forer said.
“This crisis can be an opportunity if we act rightly,” the Knesset speaker added.
Shay Felber, JAFI’s director of aliyah and absorption, said the projected number of 15,500 new Western immigrants is “based on the number of people who have already completed immigration paperwork and submitted a future arrival date.”
He said the actual number of immigrants was likely much higher, with at least 30,000 new immigrants from around the world expected to settle in Israel in 2024.
Despite the ongoing war, French Jews are eager to come to Israel, with more than 3,200 French Jews expected to emigrate to Israel this year, three times the number expected in 2023, according to Felber.
“The war in Israel, the atmosphere of anti-Semitism and thousands of incidents targeting French Jews have fuelled an unprecedented desire among French Jews to make aliyah and cooperate in the war effort,” Ariel Kandel, head of Quarita, an organisation that promotes aliyah (emigration) from France, said in a statement on Monday.
“This is an opportunity and we must not waste time. The State of Israel needs to start planning to bring in the olim and help them integrate,” Kanel argued.
Likud Knesset member Dan Illouz said Israeli society has yet to fully understand the impact the war had on Jews who emigrated from the country.
“We as a society have not properly understood the repercussions that the war created among the Jewish diaspora,” Illouz said.
“Israel could face a massive influx of immigrants from abroad, but that is not reflected in the number of immigrants coming to Israel. There is no government statement here that understands the importance of this moment.”
