Anti-Semitism is the driving force behind Aliyah from Western Europe to Israel, according to Prof. Robert Wistrich, head of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University.
“It is indisputable that the dominant factor behind Aliyah to Israel from Western Europe is anti-Semitism,” Wistrich told the Tazpit News Agency.
The Jewish Agency for Israel said in a new report that Aliyah to Israel from Western Europe in the first quarter of 2015 was unchanged from the same period last year.
However, the statistics revealed that a large increase in the number of immigrants (olim) arriving from Eastern Europe, where an unstable economic and security situation prompted more emigration. Ukrainian Aliyah alone rose by a whopping 215 percent compared to the same period last year.
“Any comparisons to the situation in Ukraine, where Aliyah is also caused by anti-Semitism, although to a smaller extent, is a false comparison,” Wistrich said.
One reaction to the Jewish Agency’s report, in some Israeli and international newspapers, declared that anti-Semitism is simply one of many factors behind Aliyah from Western Europe. Economic considerations were touted as a more influential factor.
Wistrich, however, thoroughly disagreed with that analysis. He claimed that such statements were “jumping to conclusions,” and ignored long-standing work.
