2,500 Jews ask to emigrate to ‘Israel’ since Russia-Ukraine war

Occupied Palestine (QNN)- Nearly 2,500 Ukrainian Jews have asked to emigrate to ‘Israel’ “immediately” following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Jewish Agency said on Thursday.

When Russia launched a full-scale operation in Ukraine, the Jewish Agency set up a special hotline to help those interested in leaving the country for ‘Israel’ as well as ‘Israelis’ who have relatives in Ukraine.

The hotline is being operated out of Jerusalem in conjunction with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ), an organization that raises funding from evangelical Christians.

So far more than 5,000 Ukrainian Jews have called the hotline, with about half of the callers expressing interest in moving to ‘Israel’ immediately, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Sunday.

Last year, a total of 3,100 Ukrainians immigrated to ‘Israel’.

Haaretz reported that the first organized group of immigrants to leave Ukraine for ‘Israel’ since the Russian invasion crossed the border into Poland on Saturday and they will be put up in Warsaw for the next few days before flying to ‘Israel’.

An estimated 200,000 Ukrainians are eligible to immigrate to ‘Israel’ and receive automatic citizenship under the so-called “Law of Return,” according to Haaretz.

In recent decades, Ukraine and Russia have been the largest suppliers of immigrants to ‘Israel’.

About 80 percent of the immigrants from Ukraine landing in Israel in recent years have been coming via the IFCJ Fellowship, which pays for their flights and provides them with small stipends, the newspaper reported.