The Interior Ministry issued an official announcement last
week confirming that two-thirds of the 9,357 immigrants who
arrived in Israel since January of this year are not Jewish.
The Ministry now claims this figure is representative of
aliyah from 1990 to the present.
According to Interior Ministry data from August 1989 through
the end of July of this year, a total of 859,502 people
immigrated from the former Soviet Union - - 619,820 Jews and
239,682 non-Jews.
However, the Interior Ministry notes that these figures
include only individuals who received an aliyah visa based on
the Law of Return. In line with Ministry guidelines, these
immigrants were joined by many other non-Jews such as
children from previous marriages, lone parents and elderly
parents, which increase the total percentage of non-Jewish
immigration significantly.
Interior Ministry Eli Yishai said last Tuesday that these
difficult figures justify the immediate amendment of the Law
of Return, or else the number of non-Jews in the State of
Israel will increase tremendously by the year 2010.
The Vaad HaRabbonim LeInyonei Giyur, founded by the late Rav
Chaim Kreiswirth, said in reply that these statistics
demonstrate what the Vaad has been warning against since the
wave of immigration began. "If at first no one paid attention
to Vaad warnings, today the facts are apparent, and therefore
drastic steps must be taken to halt this grave
development."
The Vaad spokesman added that one month ago Minister Eli
Yishai was asked to generate an updated list of all the non-
Jews who had come to Israel for all of those involved in the
matter, particularly rabbonim and dayanim. Despite his
promises to attend to the matter, no progress has been made
so far.
