Israeli developers are preparing for a wave of immigration. To translate the speech, click on the microphone.

As a result of the recent increase in antisemitic incidents faced by Jews in the diaspora, the first signs of a wave of immigration to Israel have emerged.

While the Jewish Agency and the Ministry of Immigration and Aliyah believe that the scale of this wave will become clearer in a few months, real estate companies are already organizing through websites and virtual conferences, and soon conferences will also be held abroad.

It seems that antisemitic activity in Western Europe and North America has crossed all boundaries, both in terms of calls for the destruction of Israel and in terms of behavior and violent racist messages directed at Jews in the diaspora.

However, there is a huge discrepancy between the words and assessments and the actual deeds done. Only six weeks have passed since the start of the war, and how real is the wave of Jewish immigration to Israel?

“Of course, we can talk about the wave of immigration in the newly established channel.”

- says Shai Felber, Deputy Director of the Immigration and Integration Department at the Jewish Agency. "We see a trend that began a week after the start of hostilities, compared to data from October of last year, and we notice that in Western countries such as the USA, the UK, Canada, and others, there is a trend of opening immigration files, which is the first step of immigration."

In these circumstances, it's easy to understand why this is happening right now, but Felber links it to two factors.

“The first factor is the desire of diaspora Jews to become part of the Israeli people. There is a strong sense of solidarity and an understanding that the state of Israel needs us.

Felber mentions that in October 2022, 90 immigration files were opened in France, while in October 2023, 450 files were opened. In North America, 150 files were opened compared to 80 last year, and in the UK, 60 files were opened compared to 40 last year.

"As time goes on and the situation here improves, or at least stabilizes, we will see an increase in this trend. The same thing happened after the OPEC meeting in 2014," says Felber.