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The number of Jews making Aliyah, or Jewish immigration to Israel, from the United States and France has declined significantly during the first quarter of 2017 compared with the corresponding period of 2016, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported.
According to data obtained from the Israeli Ministry of Immigration and Absorption some 5,111 Jews from around the world have immigrated to Israel during the first quarter of 2017, a decrease of six per cent compared to the same period of 2016.
According to the newspaper, 309 Jews from the United States immigrated to Israel during the first quarter of this year, 25 per cent less than the number of Jewish immigrants in the same period in 2016.
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The decline was also observed in the number of Jewish immigrants from France which fell from 782 in 2016 to 559 this year, a decrease of 29 per cent.
The paper pointed out that Russian Jewish immigrants constituted the highest number of migrants to Israel where 1,763 arrived this year a ten per cent increase compared to the corresponding period in 2016.
Immigration from Ukraine during the same period fell by 15 per cent, with 1,244 people arriving, compared with 1,463 in the same period of 2016.
According to the paper, 74 Jews moved from Turkey during this period compared with 28 in early 2016.
Some 26,900 Jewish immigrants arrived in Israel last year, a decrease of 13 per cent compared to 2015.