200 Ukrainian Jews immigrate to Israel

Some 200 Jews today arrived at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv from Ukraine in order to move to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, Israeli Radio reported.

The station claimed the Jews are refugees from eastern Ukraine who fled the battles there. The cost of their migration has been covered by the Israel Friendship Fund.

Yesterday, a poll showed that 27 per cent of Jews in Israel wanted to immigrate and leave the country. Seven per cent of religious Jews also said they want to immigrate.

Israel’s Walla news site has published a report by the Midgam Institute prepared for the Israeli Ministry of Education, indicating that the majority of those wishing to emigrate from Israel are young people between the ages of 23 and 29.

The Israeli government is seeking to settle large numbers of new arrivals in areas where the Palestinian presence is concentrated, in order to change the demographic.