Expert: Israel exploiting war in Ukraine to encourage Jewish migration

Israel is using the Russian war on Ukraine to encourage Jewish migration to Israel, expert in Israeli affairs Iyad Hamdan said yesterday.

Speaking to Quds Press, Hamdan said that the Israeli occupation received hundreds of secular Jews who immigrated from Ukraine in order to maintain the balance between the secular and religious Jews in Israel.

He pointed out that Israel does not stop working to increase its Jewish population in order to maintain the Jewish majority against the Arab population.

The expert stated that the Israeli occupation government is planning to absorb the new immigrants in illegal settlements across the occupied West Bank.

On Saturday, Israeli newspaper the Jerusalem Post reported an Israeli official saying that Israel is likely to receive 10,000 Jewish immigrants from Ukraine in the coming weeks.

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It also reported the Israeli Ministry of Immigration and Absorption saying: “It is prepared for the emergency immigration of Ukrainian Jews, and in view of the escalation in Ukraine, [it] is preparing all sectors to assist and absorb any Jew seeking to immigrate to Israel.”

“We call on the Jews of Ukraine to immigrate to Israel – your home,” the ministry said.

According to the newspaper, Minister of Immigration and Absorption Tamano Shata and Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman had agreed on providing additional budgets to actualise the emergency immigration operation from Ukraine.

Last year, the daily reported, a total of 13,006 Jews from Eastern Europe immigrated to Israel.

The Jerusalem Post has revealed that Israel is offering free shelter and meals to Jews immigrating from Ukraine.