A new report by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research suggests that migration of Jews from both Russia and Ukraine to Israel may be reaching “exodus” levels.
The report, which draws on data from the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, finds that if trends continue, both Russia and Ukraine could lose a majority of their Jewish populations in the years ahead.
The reasons for the exodus are obvious. While an upsurge of Ukrainian Jews to Israel began in 2014 when Russia invaded and annexed Crimea in Eastern Ukraine, the Russian military assault on Ukraine, which began in February 2022, is the major reason for the most recent mass migration.
Jews in both Ukraine and Russia have sought to escape the fighting and possibly avoid being drafted into the army. Nearly eight million refugees from Ukraine have been recorded in neighboring countries and across Europe, according to the United Nations refugee agency.
Israel, however, has absorbed a far larger number of Russian Jews since the start of the war.
In 2022, a total of 43,685 Jewish immigrants arrived in Israel from Russia and another 15,213 came from Ukraine, the Jewish Agency reported. Israel has a population of 9.6 million people, of which about 7 million are Jewish.
“If migration from these countries continues for seven years at the level seen in 2022 and early 2023, then the critical value indicating an ongoing exodus will be reached and, arguably, surpassed,” the report from the London-based Jewish Policy Research report states.
Read the article by Yonat Shimron in Sight Magazine.