Time.news – The Russian invasion of Ukraine has so far pushed over 20,000 Ukrainians and Russians, often of Jewish origin, to flee to Israel but the trend has been underway for years, if not decades. The war has given a new impetus to this flow, opening up opportunities, but at the same time, given the geopolitical complexity, the balance and the importance of the forces at play in a wider chessboard, it encounters some problems and poses new challenges to the Israeli authorities.
The Aliyah, or Law of Return – which regulates the absorption of Jewish immigrants in Israel, complete with a dedicated ministry – recognizes who is eligible (at least one Jewish grandfather or conversion to Judaism in an officially recognized community) a series of benefits, from the hotel once you have landed, to renting an apartment for a few months.
Simpler bureaucratic procedures
On the subject of the ‘titles’ to boast in order to obtain citizenship, there are legal battles that have also ended in front of the Supreme Court. In the most recent case of the Ukrainian war, an ‘express’ procedure was created to facilitate the arrival of fleeing civilians.
Since February 24, in three months, at least 20,000 have arrived from Ukraine and Russia, practically equally divided (10,019 and 9,777 respectively), the ministry for Aliyah reported. The presence of large Jewish communities in both countries involved in the war and therefore the need to maintain good relations with both Kiev and Moscow was the reason given by the Jewish state to present itself, at least initially, as a ‘neutral’ mediator. A position that gradually changed over the weeks, and which led him to take a more marked attitude in favor of Ukraine, first with the vote in favor of the suspension of Russia from the Human Rights Council at the UN and more than recently with the announcement of the dispatch of defensive equipment (helmets and bulletproof vests) to Ukrainian civil organizations and rescuers.
The posture has greatly irritated Moscow, with possible and feared repercussions – so far not occurred – with respect to the Syrian theater and the coordination between the two countries: the Israeli armed forces regularly carry out air raids in Syria (the last Friday at dawn, the second in a week), however warning Moscow so as not to incur accidents with the Russian forces present on the ground.
Russia and the surrounding countries have always been a reservoir of immigration – often ambitious and with a high university education – for Israel: from the beginning in the 1960s, when the authorities were ready to pay foreign governments to allow Jews to move , the turning point came with the collapse of the USSR which led to the absorption in the Jewish state of one million immigrants in the space of twenty years, an impressive figure for a country that at the time had five million inhabitants in all.
Brains on the run
Many of these ‘brain drain’ ended up in the hi-tech industry (in 1998 almost half of the employees were of Russian origin) and the arrival of this Russian-speaking community had a strong impact on the recipient country, modifying it economically (the rise of the so-called ‘Start-Up Nation’) but also socially.
Despite this past, the arrival of the new influx of immigrants is not painless. There are those who are unable or unable to prove that they are eligible under the Law of Return and therefore obtain a tourist visa which nevertheless prevents them from working, receiving government subsidies and registering their children at school.
The oligarchs, a separate case
And there are also those who are not Jewish and ended up in Israel thanks to some family or friend support network but do not intend to stay there for life. A case apart are the Russian oligarchs who for some years have ‘discovered’ a new homeland (or at least a new citizenship) as well as an optimal environment for doing business.
This is the case of Roman Abramovich, but also of Leonid Nevzlin, former co-owner with Mikhail Khodorkovsky of the Russian energy giant Yukos, and of the co-founders of Alfa Bank, German Khan and Mikhail Fridman. In addition to these, in the last three months, other millionaires have joined the ranks: according to Mark Oigman, Moldovan Jew at the head of SmartGen, heard by Globe and Mail, there are more than 5,000 of the 40,000 who he believes have arrived in Israel since the end of February.
With the outbreak of the war and the adoption by the West of harsh economic sanctions against the Kremlin and its allies, ‘Russian’ money has become a problem for the Jewish state which, while not legally following the steps of the US and the EU , at the same time it is cautious and monitors bank movements and transactions, as well as movements of private planes and yachts, in order to prevent those who have ended up on the ‘black list’ from evading the restrictive measures.
Immigrants in general, but also investors and start-ups who are trying to relocate to the country, suffer from this prudence, which translates into the lack of a clear policy on the matter. According to the specialized website Calcalistech, in three months immigrants who fled Russia have brought one billion shekels (280 million euros) into Israeli banks and a similar amount is currently being handled by the institutions, a drop in the bucket compared to the ‘new Israelis’ try to bring into the country, often unsuccessfully.