By: Aryeh Savir
More than 20,000 Jews from 70 countries made Aliyah (immigrated) to Israel throughout 2020, despite the global Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the subsequent limitations.
2020’s main trend was a significant increase in the number of Jews expressing interest in immigration to Israel, and the Jewish Agency received about 160,000 inquiries on the issue.
A breakdown of the data by the end of November shows that about 10,200 immigrants came from the FSU, of whom about 6,260 were immigrants from Russia and about 2,660 from Ukraine. About 3,120 immigrants came from Western Europe, of whom about 2,220 came from France and about 460 from the United Kingdom.
About 2,850 immigrants arrived from North America by the end of November, of whom about 2,550 came from the US. About 1,500 immigrated from Latin America, including 510 from Argentina, about 460 from Brazil and about 190 from Mexico.
About 280 immigrants came from South Africa, and about 90 immigrants came from Australia and New Zealand.
From Ethiopia, the total number of immigrants this year is expected to be about 1,200, of whom about 650 arrived during December as part of Operation Tsur Israel, and another 300 will land on the last day of 2020.
About 41,000 immigration cases were opened, including about 28,000 coming from Western countries, twice as many as 2019, with a 41% jump in the opening of immigration cases of young people from the West aged 18-35.
The Jewish Agency operated a special aliyah center which assisted in bringing the immigrants to Israel following the closure of the skies.
According to a procedure formulated with the outbreak of the virus, the Olim went into isolation when they arrived in Israel and thousands of them were welcomed at state-run quarantine hotels that opened especially following the crisis.
The Jewish Agency estimates that with the end of the Corona crisis, the influx of immigrants to Israel is expected to increase to about a quarter of a million new immigrants in the next three to five years.
Jewish Agency Chairman Isaac Herzog described Aliyah during Corona times as “a wonderful thing.”
(TPS)