|
World Jewish News
Israel Will Save the Russian Jews from Crisis
04.03.2009
Within 19 years, aliyah has declined by more than 30 times (185,230 people in 1990 versus 5.587 in 2008), and during the past 4 years almost by half.
In connection with the sharp decline in the number of immigrants, Israel sounded the alarm. The government has approved of the allocation of 32 million shekels for a campaign to stimulate the repatriation of Jews from Russia and the post-Soviet space, in order to save them from the harsh effects of the global economic crisis.
The campaign, according to the Maariv newspaper, starts in July and will last six months.
According to the approved plan, each family of newcomers will get a one-time material assistance in the amount of NIS 25,000 (half of the amount is allocated by the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption, and the other half - by the Jewish Agency), and families with children will be able to count on the "absorption basket" in the amount of NIS 50,000. In addition, civil service and the Jewish Agency for Israel promise to employ new immigrants, in spite of growing unemployment in the country against the backdrop of global crisis.
However, all of these benefits require newcomers to fulfill several conditions. Most importantly, a commitment to live in the country for at least 2 years. Strict requirements are connected with the fact that a large percentage of immigrants from Argentina who arrived in Israel 10 years ago, when the Latin American country was at the brink of bankruptcy, left the hospitable Jewish state shortly after the repatriation.
|
|
