Report: Israel received more immigrants from Russia than Ukraine since Russia invasion

Israel has received more Russian immigrants than Ukrainians since Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February, the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics announced on Wednesday, citing data from the Immigration Ministry, Reuters reported.

According to the data, between 24 February and 31 July, Israel received 18,891 new immigrants from Russia and 12,175 from Ukraine. This is 318 per cent higher than a similar period in 2019 when 9,774 new immigrants arrived from both countries.

Women constituted 63 per cent of Ukrainian immigrants, while they comprised 50.8 per cent of Russian immigrants. Female immigrants between the ages of 18 and 60 years from Ukraine made up73.9 per cent of all immigrants. The Israeli agency attributed the low percentage of male Ukrainian immigrants aged 18 to 60 to the travel ban imposed by Ukraine on men within this age group.

Most of the immigrants from Russia and Ukraine are Jewish, but some may only have close Jewish relatives. Under Israel’s Law of Return, a person needs at least one Jewish grandparent to be entitled to immediate citizenship. Last year, Russian immigrants constituted 30 per cent of the total immigrants to Israel, followed by immigrants from France with 14.1 per cent, the US with 13.6 per cent, Ukraine with 12 per cent, and Belarus with four per cent.

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