The Immigration and Absorption Committee marked Aliyah Day in a festive session honoring the 53,680 Jews who have immigrated to Israel since the beginning of the war. The celebrations are overshadowed by the halt of immigration from Ethiopia since the formation of the current government, even as thousands are waiting in camps in Gondar and Addis Ababa.
"Despite the war, we have seen a blessed wave of immigration to the State of Israel," said Minister Ofir Sofer. "We are preparing for the absorption of a large wave of new immigrants in the period after the war. The Committee for the Immigration of Ethiopian Jews submitted four options for continuing immigration from Ethiopia; I am open to discussing each of the options, and I want to reach a decision through a joint process of the coalition and the opposition. We want to make a decision that will not create additional problems in the coming years” he says.
The chair of the committee, MK Gilad Kariv, emphasized the cooperation between the committee and the ministry but promised that the committee under his leadership "will continue to address the issue of bringing Ethiopian Jews to Israel, with the intention of renewing this important immigration as quickly as possible."
MK Tsega Melaku also criticized in her remarks the effective halt of immigration from Ethiopia.
"We must not forget the issue of those waiting in Ethiopia to immigrate to Israel," said MK Melaku. "There was the Committee, which submitted its recommendations regarding immigration to Israel, but nothing has been done with them."
In August 2023, Minister Sofer appointed Brig.-Gen. (res.) Harel Knafo to head a committee tasked with examining the continuation of immigration from Ethiopia, out of an understanding that the issue is complex and that the lives of those waiting in Ethiopia, and of their families, depend on it.
The committee’s work was delayed because of the war, but already by June 2024 it submitted an interim report, in which it presented several options for continuing the immigration. However, since then nothing has been done, the plan has not been placed before the government, and in practice the thousands of people waiting and their families are living in uncertainty.
Encouraging Immigration of Affluent Young People From the West
"Thousands of immigrants have arrived in Israel despite the harsh war and the front that has opened with Iran," noted Minister Sofer. "Since I entered office, we have laid extensive groundwork to encourage immigration and improve absorption. The sense of unity that comes from Israel and reaches the entire world is the best catalyst for aliyah. We are in a period of soul-searching in the State of Israel, and there are weighty questions that we all need to provide answers to so that we can become a better, more decent country."
Minister Sofer presented the ministry’s achievements since he took office, which mainly focus on encouraging immigration and improving the absorption experience for immigrants from affluent Western countries. "We carried out the professional licensing reform, established the Doctors’ Administration, implemented a reform in rental assistance, and added a variety of student programs for immigrants. The next minister who comes into this office will need to continue emphasizing the arrival of young students to the State of Israel."
MK Tatiana Mazarsky thanked the immigrants who chose to come to Israel.
"I am very proud that the doctors who come to Israel manage to integrate in a more professional way. The State must continue to invest significant budgets to bring more immigrants to Israel."
Yeshayahu Yechieli, director of the Naale program (Youth Immigrating Before Parents), who attended the session with students from the program, said: "Our challenge is to move out of the war mentality, and for that we need cooperation among all the various aliyah organizations, with the goal of bringing as many new immigrants to Israel as possible. We hear that in certain countries there is renewed and growing interest in the Naale program, and we must know how to strengthen this across all the Jewish communities abroad."
According to data from the IDF Manpower Directorate, there are currently 3,614 lone soldiers who are new immigrants. Among the lone soldiers who are immigrants, 30% came from the United States, 18% from Russia, 12% from France, and 7% from Ukraine.
In addition, during the Iron Swords War, 6,850 lone immigrant reservists took part. About 100 newly immigrated soldiers were killed in the fighting, and many others were wounded.
