The Israeli Minister of Immigration and Absorption, Ofir Sofer, and the Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, announced a special plan to encourage the import of Jews from around the world and their settlement in the border areas of the Upper Galilee, the “Gaza envelope,” and the occupied West Bank, by granting special privileges and financial rewards to the immigrants.

This plan comes in an attempt to attract Jews in light of the noticeable decline in their immigration rates to historical Palestine during the year 2023, as more than 45,000 immigrants arrived in Israel, which is a 40% decrease compared to 2022, when more than 76,000 immigrants were brought.

The Jewish Agency responsible for immigration expresses its fears that the number of immigrants to Israel will continue to decline during the year 2024, despite the increase in files and requests since the outbreak of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” battle on October 7, 2023, which was opened to holders of “right of return certificates” in European countries, America, and those interested in immigrating to Israel, claiming a sharp increase in “anti-Semitic” incidents.

According to data from the Ministry of Diaspora, the World Zionist Organization, and the Jewish Agency, from October 7 until the end of last January, nearly 7,000 new immigrants were brought to Israel, a large percentage of whom were young men who enlisted in the Israeli army and participated in the war on Gaza or the fathers and families of soldiers who were killed during the battles in the Strip.

To confront the decline in Jewish immigration rates due to the war, a special plan to bring Jews to Israel during the year 2024 was announced. In the pictures are the Minister of “Immigration and Absorption”, Ofir Sofer, the Israeli Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, and the Chairman of the Jewish Zionist Agency, Doron Almog. (All photos were taken by the government press office and circulated by the Ministry of Immigration and Absorption for free use)

Immigration applications

According to the data provided by Sofer and Smotrich, since October 7, the number of open immigration files and applications in France has quadrupled, the number of applications has doubled in the United States, and an increase in the number of files has been recorded in Britain, Canada and Europe, according to what Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported. 

However, immigration data for 2023 shows, according to the newspaper, that even in the last months of the year, after the outbreak of the war in Gaza, and in light of the continuing escalation on the northern border with Hezbollah, most applications were not implemented, due to the fear of those registered for immigration of the escalation of security tension. The lack of security and personal safety in Israel.

In response to these concerns, the Israeli government developed a special plan called the “Refugee Ship,” for which it allocated an initial budget of 170 million shekels ($46 million). The plan aims to stimulate the actual implementation of immigration requests and encourage large immigration campaigns for Jews from around the world to Israel.

As part of the plan, new immigrants will be allocated monthly financial rewards and various privileges, and solutions will be provided to immigrants and their families in the areas of education, academics, job opportunities, and rental assistance, with priority given to those immigrants who agree to settle in the West Bank, the Negev, and the Upper Galilee.

Evacuation cost

This plan comes at a time when the Israeli government has failed to restore personal security to Israelis, especially in the border areas and fighting fronts. According to the Israeli “National Emergency Authority,” about 125,000 Israelis have so far been evacuated from the southern towns in the “Gaza Envelope” and the northern towns in the Upper Galilee. They were transferred to hotels and guest rooms, funded by the relevant government ministries.

According to data from the Israeli Ministry of Security, since the beginning of the war with Hezbollah, 61,000 residents have been evacuated from the north and Upper Galilee. According to the Ministry of Finance, the cost of evacuating residents in the north and south until the end of this February will be 5.6 billion shekels ($1.5 billion), including 2.3 billion to evacuate the residents of the north.

Meanwhile, the scope of destruction is expanding in the north and the Upper Galilee, as a report by the newspaper “De Macer” showed that 427 homes in the north were hit by Hezbollah fire, of which 80 were directly hit, and there are many settlements that are subjected to intense bombardment by anti-aircraft fire, and are suffering great destruction. And severe damage.

According to the newspaper, public services in the areas affected by the war on the northern front are completely suspended, and the newspaper quoted residents of kibbutzim and towns in the Upper Galilee who were not evacuated that “they cannot remain in their homes, because all services such as health, education, commerce, banks and shopping are present in Kiryat Shmona, which has been repeatedly bombed and was evacuated in October.

Ghost area

The return of Israelis to the border towns with Lebanon and the Upper Galilee seems far-fetched if the security escalation between the Israeli army and Hezbollah continues, and if the Israeli government does not impose a new reality that guarantees the personal security of families, according to a report by the Haaretz newspaper.

The newspaper's military analyst, Amos Harel, says, "On Black Saturday, the preemptive evacuation of residents of settlements near the border with Lebanon began, and in the following days, tens of thousands of residents were evacuated, under the direction of the government, from a strip up to 5 kilometers deep inside Israeli territory."

The military analyst continues, “Through gunfire and rocket barrages, Hezbollah was able to impose a kind of security fence inside Israeli territory in the Upper Galilee, an area that many consider the most beautiful in the country, and in its most beautiful and greenest seasons, but under the shadow of the security escalation it has turned into a ghost zone.” 

Absence of government

The head of the Upper Galilee Council, Giora Zaltz, told the Haaretz newspaper, “The government is not with us in this war.” He added, "Our educational institutions are not protected. We have converted hundreds of shelters into kindergartens and schools. Until this moment, the Israeli government has not intervened in the event. There is no party that talks to us that has the authority to make decisions about budgets."

The head of the Supreme Council of Galilee continued, "If they now ask the residents to return to the settlements, they will not return. The entire army is in the settlements. How exactly will that happen? In Kiryat Shmona, the main city in the region, there are no banking services, no health clinics, no trade, and no shopping." .

He concluded by saying, "No one is able, not even the government, to return the population to living a normal life. Even companies and official institutions have left the region, and we do not know which of them will return when the fighting ends."

Source: Al Jazeera