More than 11,700 Jewish Americans have initiated applications to immigrate to Israel after the start of the war in the Gaza Strip last year, a dramatic increase nearly doubling the applications from the previous year, figures published by The Washington Post showed.
Since the Hamas attack, more than 11,700 Americans have opened applications for immigration, the Israeli naturalization process for people with at least one Jewish grandparent, said the newspaper.
Last month, data released by the Israeli Immigration Ministry and The Jewish Agency for Israel showed that some 31,000 people have immigrated to Israel since the beginning of the Jewish calendar year from more than 100 countries, despite the ongoing war in Gaza and escalation on the northern border with Lebanon.
According to data cited in a joint statement from the two bodies, 19,850 immigrants arrived from Russia, and over 3,340 from the US and Canada, with support from the Nefesh B’Nefesh organization, between September 16, 2023, and September 19, 2024.
There were also some 1,820 new immigrants from France, 980 from Ukraine, 975 from Belarus, 560 from the United Kingdom, 450 from Argentina, 310 from Georgia, 280 from South Africa, 250 from Brazil, 220 from Uzbekistan, 160 from Germany, 150 from Azerbaijan, 135 from Australia, 130 from Mexico, and 105 from Kazakhstan, the statement added.
The data cited also indicates a rise in the opening of files by potential immigrants from Western countries, especially France, where 6,040 people have started the process to date, compared with 1,330 in the corresponding period last year.
In terms of demographics, the Ministry indicated that around one-third of new immigrants in the past year were between the ages of 18 and 35, with some 9,600 young people “moving to Israel to build their professional and personal futures in the shadow of the war, and represent a growth engine for Israel’s society and economy.”
A further 20% of the new immigrants (over 6,000) were children, while 21% were between 36 and 50, and 28% were 51 and older.
Israeli Immigration Minister Ofir Sofer said in a press release that, “Jewish immigration to Israel is one of the cornerstones of Zionism, and indeed, since the start of the war on October 7, we have witnessed an exciting and unique wave of immigration.”
He said over the past year, tens of thousands of immigrants have arrived in Israel from all over the world, choosing to come at the most challenging of times. “This is a powerful and significant expression of the deep connection between the Jewish diaspora and Israel,” Sofer said.
“This immigration symbolizes the profound bond of the Jewish people to their land, bringing with it hope and pride, and beyond that, serving as a significant engine for growth in our society and economy,” the Minister added.
The statement came a week after the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) published data indicating a sharp increase in Israelis leaving the country permanently in 2022 and in the first half of 2023, after the mass civil unrest last year over the government’s judicial overhaul plan, which followed societal upheavals that caused a string of successive elections in recent years.
According to the report, some 31,000 Israelis were declared as having left the country in 2021, meaning they left a year earlier (compared to 29,000 who returned), 38,000 were declared as such in 2022 (with 23,000 returning), while 55,300 were determined in 2023 to have moved abroad (27,000 returned), marking a jump of over 50%.
In data from the first half of 2023, some 40,400 people were said to have left the country.
The data did not cover the period since Hamas’ attack of October 7, 2023, and the subsequent, still-ongoing war in Gaza accompanied by the escalating conflict with Hezbollah on the northern border. Various media outlets estimate that about 50,000 people have left.
According to Nefesh B'Nefesh, a non-profit organization, new arrivals to Israel were up 20% since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.
“Jewish people are drawn to their nation when there are threats to it,” said Yael Katsman, a spokeswoman for Nefesh B’Nefesh.
