Dec. 22, 2022: Over 70,000 people immigrated to Israel in 2022, more than twice as many as the year before and the highest number in over two decades, according to year-end figures released by the Jewish Agency on Thursday.
The dramatic increase was driven by Moscow’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine and its crackdowns at home, with more than half of this year’s immigrants coming from Russia and a fifth coming from Ukraine, according to the organization, which facilitates immigration to Israel, known as aliyah.
The total includes all immigrants to Israel from January 1, 2022, to December 1, 2022, not only include people who made aliyah through the Jewish Agency — and includes those who came to Israel on tourist visas and only then went through the process of obtaining citizenship, instead of in advance as most do, a Jewish Agency spokesperson said.
The final total for December will be available after the new year, as it takes time to process the data.
“It was a dramatic year that emphasized the value of mutual responsibility among the Jewish people and during which the Jewish Agency helped strengthen the resilience of Jewish communities, empowered weaker populations in Israel, brought tens of thousands of olim (immigrants), saved lives from all over Ukraine and brought them to a safe harbour in Israel,” said Jewish Agency chairman Doron Almog.
