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World Jewish News
Jews from FSU Disappear Before they Arrive in Israel
19.05.2009
880 thousand people in the post-Soviet space are subject to the Law of Return and are entitled to repatriation to Israel. These data were revealed by the Chairman of the Government's Liaison Bureau for Eastern European Jewry («Nativ») Naomi Ben Ami, speaking at the meeting of a parliamentary commission on alliyah and absorption.
According to Ben Ami, only half of those subject to the Law of Return (410 thousand) – are Galahian Jews. Most of the potential repatriates (550 thousand) live on the territory of Russia.
According to the "Nativ" data, there are 210 thousand of Jews and descendants of Jews in Ukraine today, and 37 000 in the Baltic countries. The majority of these are elderly people.
The meeting of parliamentary commission, chaired by Lea Shem-Tov (Israel Beiteinu) was convened in connection with the dramatic fall of alliyah in recent years. So, if in the year 2000, 50 762 immigrants arrived in Israel, only 5313 people came to live in the country in the year 2008.
Recall that in July 2008 "Nativ" reported on 1.5 million Jews residing on the territory of the former USSR and some European countries (including Germany). The published paper contained a forecast that if the FSU Jews continued assimilating just as rapidly, the community would disappear in a generation, that is, in 30-40 years.
The report also indicated that about 80% of "Russian" Jews are in mixed marriages – it is the highest rate among all communities in the Diaspora.
Olmert's government has agreed with the data by "Nativ" and even convened a special meeting on this issue. However, there have been no practical solutions following the current session of the Parliamentary Commission for the alliyah and absorption.
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