Some 11,516 immigrants arrived in Israel from countries of the former Soviet Union in 2023, representing 92% of the country’s total immigration during January and February and an increase of 434% compared to the number of immigrants from this area during these months of last year. In addition, 388 immigrants came from Belarus, representing an increase of 229%.
On the other hand, some 342 immigrants came from other countries in Europe, representing an increase of 235% compared to the number of immigrants from these countries during January and February 2022, according to an official document from the Jewish Agency obtained by The Jerusalem Post.
During the first two months of 2023, the number of immigrants to Israel through the Jewish Agency was 12,658, an increase of 219% compared to last year.
Israel receives more than 70,000 Jewish immigrants in 2022, a record number
Israel received in 2022 the record number of 70,000 new Jewish immigrants, the highest in 23 years, from 95 different countries, but above all from Russia and Ukraine.
The record number in the arrival of “olim chadashim” (Jewish immigrants) also represents a drastic increase compared to 2021, when 28,600 new Jewish immigrants settled in Israel, according to figures released today by the Jewish Agency, an entity dedicated to facilitating this process. known as “aliyah”
This year, the vast majority of new immigrants -who avail themselves of the Law of Return based on their Jewish roots- come from Russia and Ukraine, an exodus motivated by the context of the war between the two countries, as well as the growing repression under Vladimir Putin’s Russian regime.
Between January 1 and December 1, 37,364 “olim” from Russia and 14,680 from Ukraine arrived in Israel; in addition to 3,500 from the US; 2,050 from France; 1,993 from Belarus, 1,498 from Ethiopia, 985 from Argentina, 526 from Great Britain, 426 from South Africa and 356 from Brazil.
With this great increase in the number of Jewish immigrants returning to Israel, the prophecies of Deuteronomy 30:3 continue to be fulfilled, which announces:
3 that then the Lord thy God will return thee from captivity and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee.
4 If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will He fetch thee.
5 And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and He will do thee good and multiply thee above thy fathers.
However, without a doubt, it will represent a great challenge for the authorities, who may find themselves overwhelmed in meeting the needs and providing adequate support to such a large number of families.
Support For New Immigrants
Our help to the families of new immigrants is vital so that they can start their new lives in the country and are able to continue during the hard process of adaptation and learning the language with the hope of being able to enter the labor market in the future.
Our City Of Life ministry has a variety of projects aimed at providing support to new immigrants, whether it be with food, clothing, furniture, etc., as well as professional emotional help to help them understand their new reality and overcome times of difficulty; especially living in a place as difficult and conflictive as the entire border area to the Gaza Strip, where the civilian population is really affected by terrorism, rockets, sirens and constant threats from the Islamic terrorist organization Hamas and other Jihad militias.
Recently our social outreach center has carried out a distribution of sets of dishes for hundreds of people in 4 different cities, Sderot, Netivot, Beer Sheva and Ascalon, which are among the most affected by the launch of missiles and yet have a large community of new immigrants who return to the country of their ancestors with great enthusiasm and desire to start a new phase of their lives but unfortunately they are hit by a difficult situation of insecurity and hopelessness.
These families were motivated by our words of encouragement and love and were happy to know that they can count on us, that we care about them and that we will be in contact with them for whatever they need.
With gratitude on their faces, they recovered some hope and strength to move on with their lives and, most importantly, they were able to feel the unconditional love of the Father through us.
You can be part of and impact the lives of more people who need help in our city and together show them the way, the truth and the life.
We invite you to be part of our ministry so that together we can bring hope to our border town of Sderot.
Our work would not be possible without the help of partners like you, so we ask you to consider in prayer the possibility of a monthly commitment that will allow us to continue with the Lord’s work here in Israel.
Sincerely yours
Pastors
Michael & Dina Beener
and CLM Israel Team
“City of Life”
Messianic congregation and Outreach Center
Sderot, Israel.
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