Israel Prepares to Receive 50,000 Immigrants, Jews from Russia, Ukraine

Ukrainian refugees show their documents before they board a flight at Iasi International Airport in Romania, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, en route to Israel, March 8, 2022. (Reuters)
Ukrainian refugees show their documents before they board a flight at Iasi International Airport in Romania, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, en route to Israel, March 8, 2022. (Reuters)
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Israel Prepares to Receive 50,000 Immigrants, Jews from Russia, Ukraine

Ukrainian refugees show their documents before they board a flight at Iasi International Airport in Romania, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, en route to Israel, March 8, 2022. (Reuters)
Ukrainian refugees show their documents before they board a flight at Iasi International Airport in Romania, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, en route to Israel, March 8, 2022. (Reuters)

The Jewish Agency for Israel announced on Monday that it expects the arrival of at least 50,000 new Jewish immigrants from Russia and Ukraine in the next six months.

The figures were announced in an emergency research at the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, which detailed the Agency’s plans to set up posts along Russia's borders to assist Russian refugees who are interested in immigrating to Israel.

According to the Agency, as many as 6,000 immigrants are expected to arrive in Israel from Russia in each of the next six months. It expected half that amount to arrive from Ukraine.

Israel's Minister of Aliyah and Integration Pnina Tamano Shata said the government approved on Sunday a special budget of 90 million shekels ($25 million) to finance the absorption of these immigrants.

Jewish Agency Chairman Doron Almog announced plans to set up a special “aliyah express” track for new Russian arrivals that will allow them to board flights to Israel before completing all the necessary paperwork, so long as they are able to provide basic proof that they are eligible to immigrate under the Law of Return.

According to the law, any individual with at least one Jewish grandfather is eligible for “aliyah”, or Jewish immigration to Israel, and automatic Israeli citizenship.

A similar “aliyah express” track was created in March when a massive influx of immigrants from war-torn Ukraine was anticipated.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, a total of 13,172 Ukrainians and 24,707 Russians have immigrated to Israel, according to Jewish Agency figures.

Another 35,000 Russians and nearly 27,000 Ukrainians are currently residing in Israel – they are either waiting out the war as tourists or are in the process of immigrating, figures show.

After the war broke out, the Jewish Agency set up stations near Ukraine’s borders with Poland, Moldova, Romania and Hungary to assist refugees interested in immigrating to Israel.

Almog told the committee that similar stations are about to be set up on Russia's borders with Finland and Azerbaijan in order to help Russian refugees.

He said the Agency had allocated half a billion shekels for this wave of immigrants from Ukraine and Russia.

Of this sum, 200 million shekels had already been spent on bringing Ukrainian refugees to Israel, and another 300 million shekels would be required for the expected influx of Russians.

Almog said he expected the Israeli government to provide some of the required funding.



Heathrow Airport Closes for the Day After a Fire Knocks Out Power, Disrupting Hundreds of Flights 

People walk past a departure board displaying Singapore Airlines SQ318 flight to London Heathrow as cancelled at Singapore Changi Airport in Singapore on March 21, 2025. (AFP)
People walk past a departure board displaying Singapore Airlines SQ318 flight to London Heathrow as cancelled at Singapore Changi Airport in Singapore on March 21, 2025. (AFP)
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Heathrow Airport Closes for the Day After a Fire Knocks Out Power, Disrupting Hundreds of Flights 

People walk past a departure board displaying Singapore Airlines SQ318 flight to London Heathrow as cancelled at Singapore Changi Airport in Singapore on March 21, 2025. (AFP)
People walk past a departure board displaying Singapore Airlines SQ318 flight to London Heathrow as cancelled at Singapore Changi Airport in Singapore on March 21, 2025. (AFP)

Britain’s Heathrow Airport closed for the full day Friday after an electrical substation fire knocked out its power, disrupting flights for hundreds of thousands of passengers at one of Europe's biggest travel hubs.

Flights were diverted to Gatwick Airport, Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and Ireland’s Shannon Airport, tracking services showed.

At least 1,350 flights to and from Heathrow were affected already, including several from US cities that were canceled, flight tracking service FlightRadar 24 said.

“To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, we have no choice but to close Heathrow” for the full day Friday, the airport’s statement said. “We expect significant disruption over the coming days, and passengers should not travel to the airport under any circumstances until the airport reopens.”

Heathrow is one of the world’s busiest airports for international travel. It had its busiest January on record earlier this year, with more than 6.3 million passengers, up more than 5% for the same period last year. January also was the 11th month in a row it averaged over 200,000 passengers a day, with the airport citing transatlantic travel as a key contributor.

Heathrow said it will provide an update on its operations when it has more information on restoring power available.

National Rail canceled all trains to and from the airport.

London Fire Brigade said 10 fire engines and around 70 firefighters were on the scene after a transformer within an electrical substation caught fire in west London late Thursday night.

Thousands of homes also lost power and about 150 people were evacuated.

Footage posted to social media showed huge flames and large plumes of smoke coming from the facility.

“The fire has caused a power outage affecting a large number of homes and local businesses, and we are working closely with our partners to minimize disruption,” Assistant Commissioner Pat Goulbourne said.

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks said in a post on X the power outage affected more than 16,300 homes.

Emergency services were called to the scene at 11:23 p.m. Thursday. The cause of the fire is yet to be determined.

Goulbourne urged people to take safety precautions and avoid the area as crews worked to extinguish the blaze.

The website FlightAware showed cancelations of several flights to Heathrow, including two from John F. Kennedy International in New York, a Delta Airlines flight and an American Airlines flight. A United Airlines flight from Washington Dulles International also was cancelled.

Heathrow normally opens for flights at 6 a.m. due to nighttime flying restrictions. It said the closure would last until 11:59 p.m. Friday.

The UK government earlier this year approved building a third runway at the airport to boost the economy and connectivity to the world.