Western immigration down, but aliya from Russia and Turkey up
Despite a downward trend in Western aliya, increases in the numbers of those arriving from Russia and Turkey has led to an overall rise so far this year.
The 23,415 immigrants who came to Israel from January 1 to Sept. 30 constituted a 2% increase over the corresponding period last year, an interim report by the Jewish Agency for Israel shows.
The 8% rise in immigration from the former Soviet Union, representing 13,192 persons, helped make up for an 11% decrease from the United States, which sent 2,282 immigrants to Israel. Among the FSU figures, 5,661 immigrants came from Russia, where sanctions and a financial crisis exacerbated by low oil prices have halved the value of the ruble against the dollar since 2014.
Policies limiting personal freedoms in Russia under President Vladimir Putin also has contributed to the increase, Natan Sharansky, the outgoing chairman of the Jewish Agency, has said.
Ukraine, where the economy crashed following a revolution and territorial disputes with Russia after 2013, provided Israel with nearly 6,000 newcomers.
Another noticeable increase came from Turkey, where many Jews are exploring immigration options amid political instability and allegations of state-tolerated antisemitism under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the Islamist Justice and Development (AK) Party. This year, more than 350 Turkish Jews came, compared to 164 in the corresponding period last year.
Aliya from France, which in 2015 was for the second year straight Israel’s largest source of immigrants with 7,328 newcomers, continued to plummet, registering a 26% drop this year to a total of 3,138 newcomers. France, which is seeing an economic improvement following several stagnant years, also has recorded a decrease in antisemitic incidents since 2015 that the government attributes to its security measures. Immigration from Britain also decreased by 16%, to 459 newcomers. (JTA)