More than 20 percent of the 38,000 immigrants who arrived in Israel over this past year (nearly 9,000) came from Ukraine, according to a statement Sunday by the Jewish Agency for Israel.
Nearly 6,000 immigrants came from Russia, and around 400 more came from Belarus, according to Israel’s Aliyah and Integration Ministry.
It was the highest total number of immigrants to the Jewish State in a 12-month period in the past 20 years.
Most of the immigrants who came from eastern European countries arrived after the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“We have been through two intensive months of absorbing immigration,” said Aliyah and Integration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata last week. “From the start of the war in Ukraine, the State of Israel has received more than 15,000 new immigrants.”
Although about half of the new immigrants came from Russia and Ukraine, around 4,000 came from the United States, 3,700 came from France and around 600 hailed from Argentina. More than 700 were from the United Kingdom, 600 came from South Africa, 500 were from Brazil, 400 were from Canada and the rest came from Australia, Belgium, Chile, Germany, Italy and elsewhere.
