In anticipation of tougher repatriation conditions, the number of people leaving Russia for Israel has increased significantly. Neither the new Israeli authorities nor the society, irritated by the excessive whims of those who have moved and the vulgarity of those who only need a passport from Israel, are not much expected of the new emigrants. But that doesn’t stop anyone. Israeli lawyer, chairman of the Committee on Immigration Law at the Chamber of Lawyers in Israel, Alexei Kovalenko, spoke specifically for Russian media about why current returnees rarely stay in the country.
What New Immigrants Face
Israel is seeing a sharp increase in the number of returnees from Russia. In the first four months of 2023 alone, according to the Ministry of Aliyah and Absorption, nearly 17,000 Russians were granted Israeli citizenship. If the trend continues, more than 50,000 people will become Israeli citizens this year.
The number of people applying for citizenship rose sharply for the second consecutive year. In 2022, more than 37,000 Russian citizens received Israeli passports. Even then, the Israeli authorities announced an increase in aliyah (this term refers to the return of Jews to Israel) by 2.4 times. Last year’s aliyah was a record for the past 23 years. It looks like that record will be broken this year.
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And this despite the fact that Israel recently closed the emergency repatriation centers (they were opened after the February events and operated for more than a year). Now all Russians follow the procedure in general order, as before. And this greatly complicated the process of obtaining citizenship.
The increase in the flow of returnees greatly affects life in Israel. In particular, the demand for real estate has increased sharply, rental prices have increased. Thus, on average in the country in 2022, the housing price index increased by 20.3%.
Not all ministries provide specific statistics, mainly due to the fact that Israel has closed the emergency repatriation process. It seems that they want to show that there is no need for an emergency repatriation procedure, despite evidence to the contrary.
It can also be noted that people who want to come to Israel as tourists wait a very long time for consular checks. Statistics show that in Moscow it takes 6-12 months, and those who applied at the beginning and middle of last year were only approved this year.
What angered Israeli society and government
The new wave of repatriation that is taking place now has a certain and understandable character. Jews left Russia and the USSR in waves. The first stage is the emigration of the 1970s, then the early 1990s, the third is the mid-1990s and the 2000s. Finally, today’s emigration. In the 1970s, people were leaving the Soviet Union and were prepared to wait years for permission to leave to live in Israel.
In the early 1990s the borders were opened, then there was the most massive emigration in search of a better life. Thanks to the Russian-speaking returnees who left, the population of Israel increased by a quarter. In the mid-1990s and 2000s, people left who could already choose where to go, and Israel was chosen on purpose.
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Repatriation these days is people who want to have an alternative airfield, who come to Israel to get an Israeli passport. Often they won’t stay here, and they only need darkon or lesse pass (these are type of Israeli documents). Maybe they will come back later, but at the moment the purpose of the visit for them is precisely to get the cherished document of an Israeli citizen, so as not to get a red Russian passport again, which has become poisonous in many places.
The attitude towards these returnees is appropriate. In the 1990s, people with professional experience came to the country, but they still had to start their lives from scratch – learn Hebrew, not look for the most prestigious job and just prove that you belong here.
The current wave of repatriation is a whole new generation of emigrants. These are people with a profession who may live in Israel, but work remotely, or do business in the country or outside. They do not have to start from scratch, so the attitude towards them is different.
Those who came in the 1970s and 1990s view the “fresh” returnees with a bit of suspicion.
Previously, people came with the firm objective of staying in Israel, and they were not at all bothered by certain difficulties of life in the country that they faced. Yes, they thought, life is hard, but you yourself wanted it.
The current wave of repatriation concerns people who come with certain requirements. Service requirements, level of service, how they should be treated, how they should be assisted. This is what irritates the representatives of the old waves of repatriation. The government does not like that many new citizens leave the country almost immediately.
Why New Immigrants Leave Israel
Maybe the dissatisfied should seriously think about what the real problem is. Most of my clients who passed through our office after February 2022 would happily stay, but Israel has done nothing about it. They need help to put life on a new path and at least solve the first problem – ensuring the transfer of money from Russia.
Abir Sultan/EPA/TASS
The state did nothing to help these people integrate. As a result, returnees arrived, sat down for a while, and moved to Dubai or other countries more loyal to fleeing Russians. At the same time, Israel lost a unique opportunity to take advantage of the knowledge and prospects that this repatriation offered the country to develop its own economy.
First of all, the government believes that the people who are now coming to Israel have nothing to do with Jews. Now often comes the third generation of the Jewish lineage, those who, for example, had only one Jewish grandfather.
If in the 1990s 75% of those who came to Israel were Jewish on the maternal side and 25% were not, now the opposite is true. 25% of the total emigration are halachic Jews (with a Jewish mother), and 75% are not.
In addition, the authorities masterfully use statistics that are closed to the majority of the population. Sometimes politicians throw information in the media, where they indicate that supposedly 65% of those who have obtained citizenship have left the country.
Yes, the government should crack down on passport tourism, but it does not take into account that at this time it is much more difficult for people to drop everything overnight and come to Israel in strict accordance with the requirements of the authorities. They finish their business, sell belongings and often try to delay the moment of the final move by living in two houses.
However, including them in the general statistics means gaining political dividends and inciting rejection towards the new emigrants, who are already psychologically very difficult. But personally, I see them already uniting and creating their own unique new environment, but against all odds.
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