عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

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)
TT
TT

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.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

Iran’s Nuclear Chief Stresses His Country’s Need for Nuclear Industry

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, second left, and the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran chief Mohammad Eslami, second right, are seen during the "National Day of Nuclear Technology," in Tehran, Iran, April 9, 2025. (Iranian Presidency/AFP)
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, second left, and the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran chief Mohammad Eslami, second right, are seen during the "National Day of Nuclear Technology," in Tehran, Iran, April 9, 2025. (Iranian Presidency/AFP)
TT
TT

Iran’s Nuclear Chief Stresses His Country’s Need for Nuclear Industry

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, second left, and the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran chief Mohammad Eslami, second right, are seen during the "National Day of Nuclear Technology," in Tehran, Iran, April 9, 2025. (Iranian Presidency/AFP)
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, second left, and the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran chief Mohammad Eslami, second right, are seen during the "National Day of Nuclear Technology," in Tehran, Iran, April 9, 2025. (Iranian Presidency/AFP)

Iran’s growing need for clean and sustainable energy has made nuclear development an “unquestionable necessity”, the head of the country’s Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI) said on Monday, the Tasnim new agency reported.

Nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami said assassinations and military attacks carried by Iran’s enemies has failed to destroy the country's nuclear industry. “They have to get rid of this illusion,” he noted.

Speaking at Student Day commemorations in Tehran, Eslami noted the National Security Strategy approved by US President Donald Trump.

“Besides the emphasis on progress in various fields, the strategy mainly stresses technology development. Therefore, the US policy is based on power and the creation of a broad global rule led by the US, or the America First concept,” he said.

He accused Washington of using sanctions and political pressure as a tool to subjugate any country not serving such a policy, similar to what is now happening in Venezuela.

“(US Secretary of State Marco) Rubio said that Iran has no right to possess nuclear power, which means that the issue is not related to Tehran’s producing of a nuclear bomb,” he noted.

Eslami, who also acts as Vice-President, highlighted significant progress in the construction of the second and third units of the Bushehr nuclear power plant.

He said more than 6,000 people are now working on the plant’s new units. The first unit alone has delivered “72 billion kilowatt hours of electricity” to the national grid and has a minimum operational lifespan of 50 years, he added.

Eslami said the current world order is plagued by “the law of the jungle and double standards,” but noted that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) remains an institution under the United Nations, making it essential for Iran “to prevent accusations of deviation from regulations by adhering to the frameworks.”

“Iran has one problem with the IAEA: the political pressure exerted by the US, the E3 countries and the Zionist entity,” he added

“The accusation that they have been making against our industry for over 25 years is that we are pursuing military action and that we are not transparent,” Eslami said, adding that Iran has engaged in nuclear talks for 25 years before it signed the nuclear deal in 2015.

Eslami stressed that his country’s nuclear policies are run by an experienced system, not by one person. “Iran has an interest to follow such system until all sanctions are lifted. We are working to resolve this problem,” he said.

World

RSF Says Israel Killed Highest Number of Journalists Again this Year 

A boy sits amid murals painted on a destroyed building in the Maghazi refugee camp outside Deir al-Balah on December 8, 2025. (AFP)
A boy sits amid murals painted on a destroyed building in the Maghazi refugee camp outside Deir al-Balah on December 8, 2025. (AFP)
TT
TT

RSF Says Israel Killed Highest Number of Journalists Again this Year 

A boy sits amid murals painted on a destroyed building in the Maghazi refugee camp outside Deir al-Balah on December 8, 2025. (AFP)
A boy sits amid murals painted on a destroyed building in the Maghazi refugee camp outside Deir al-Balah on December 8, 2025. (AFP)

Reporters Without Borders said on Tuesday that Israel was responsible for nearly half of all journalists killed this year worldwide, with 29 Palestinian reporters slain by its forces in Gaza.

In its annual report, the Paris-based media freedom group said the total number of journalists killed reached 67 globally this year, slightly up from the 66 killed in 2024.

Israeli forces accounted for 43 percent of the total, making them "the worst enemy of journalists", RSF said in its report, which documented deaths over 12 months from December 2024.

The most deadly single attack was a so-called "double-tap" strike on a hospital in south Gaza on August 25, which killed five journalists, including two contributors to international news agencies Reuters and the Associated Press.

In total, since the start of hostilities in Gaza in October 2023, nearly 220 journalists have died, making Israel the biggest killer of journalists worldwide for three years running, RSF data shows.

Foreign reporters are still unable to travel to Gaza -- unless they are in tightly controlled tours organized by the Israeli military -- despite calls from media groups and press freedom organizations for access.

Elsewhere in the RSF annual report, the group said that 2025 was the deadliest year in Mexico in at least three years, with nine journalists killed there, despite pledges from left-wing President Claudia Sheinbaum to help protect them.

War-wracked Ukraine (three journalists killed) and Sudan (four journalists killed) are the other most dangerous countries for reporters in the world, according to RSF.

The overall number of deaths last year is far down from the peak of 142 journalists killed in 2012, linked largely to the Syrian civil war, and is below the average since 2003 of around 80 killed per year.

The RSF annual report also counts the number of journalists imprisoned worldwide for their work, with China (121), Russia (48) and Myanmar (47) the most repressive countries, RSF figures showed.

As of December 1, 2025, 503 journalists were detained in 47 countries across the world, the report said.

World

Fighting between Thailand and Cambodia Spreads along Contested Border

A handout photo made available by Agence Kampuchea Presse (AKP) shows people fleeing from a disputed area along a street in Oddar Meanchey Province, Cambodia, 08 December 2025. EPA/Agence Kampuchea Presse (AKP)
A handout photo made available by Agence Kampuchea Presse (AKP) shows people fleeing from a disputed area along a street in Oddar Meanchey Province, Cambodia, 08 December 2025. EPA/Agence Kampuchea Presse (AKP)
TT
TT

Fighting between Thailand and Cambodia Spreads along Contested Border

A handout photo made available by Agence Kampuchea Presse (AKP) shows people fleeing from a disputed area along a street in Oddar Meanchey Province, Cambodia, 08 December 2025. EPA/Agence Kampuchea Presse (AKP)
A handout photo made available by Agence Kampuchea Presse (AKP) shows people fleeing from a disputed area along a street in Oddar Meanchey Province, Cambodia, 08 December 2025. EPA/Agence Kampuchea Presse (AKP)

Fighting between Cambodia and Thailand escalated along their contested border on Tuesday, as the Southeast Asian neighbors both said they would not back down in defending their sovereignty. With each side blaming the other for starting Monday's renewed clashes, it was unclear how or if a fragile ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump in July could be salvaged.

Cambodia's influential former leader Hun Sen said his country waited 24 hours to honor the ceasefire and allow for evacuations before launching counterattacks overnight against Thai forces.

"Cambodia needs peace, but Cambodia is compelled to counterattack to defend our territory," he said in a Facebook post, saying strong bunkers and weapons gave Cambodian forces the advantage in defending against an "invading enemy". In Thailand, military officials said there were clashes in five border provinces, and a Navy-led operation in its Trat Province to expel Cambodian soldiers was expected to end soon. They said Cambodia was using artillery, rocket launchers, and bomb-dropping drones to attack Thai forces.

"Thailand is determined to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity and therefore military measures must be taken as necessary," Defense Ministry spokesperson Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri told the media briefing where other military officials also spoke. Cambodia's Defense Ministry accused Thailand of "brutal and unlawful actions", saying nine civilians were killed since Monday and 20 seriously injured. Thai officials said three soldiers had died in the fighting and 29 people had been injured, Reuters reported.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, Hun Sen's son, said late on Monday that Thailand "must not use military force to attack civilian villages under the pretext of reclaiming its sovereignty". Both countries said they had evacuated hundreds of thousands of people from border areas. Tensions have simmered since Thailand last month suspended de-escalation measures that were agreed at a summit overseen by Trump, after a Thai soldier was maimed by a landmine that Bangkok said Cambodia had recently laid. Monday's clashes were the fiercest since a five-day exchange of rockets and heavy artillery in July, when at least 48 people were killed and 300,000 displaced, before Trump intervened to broker a ceasefire.

In May, tensions rose following the killing of a Cambodian soldier during a skirmish, which led to a major troop buildup at the border and escalated into diplomatic breakdowns and armed clashes. Thailand has superior military capabilities, with armed forces that dwarf its neighbor in terms of personnel, budget and weaponry, and fighter jets that have been carrying out air strikes to support its ground forces. Thailand and Cambodia have for more than a century contested sovereignty at undemarcated points along their 817-km (508-mile) land border, with disputes over ancient temples stirring nationalist fervor and occasional armed flare-ups, including a deadly week-long artillery exchange in 2011.