320 Holocaust Survivors immigrate to Israel from Ukraine since beginning of the war
About 320 Holocaust Survivors have emigrated from Ukraine to Israel in the past five months since Russia invaded the country, part of the thousands of Jews who have fled the war-torn country to find a new home in the Jewish state.
Jewish Ukrainian refugees who fled from war zones in Ukraine arrive at Ben Gurion International Airport from Romania on a rescue flight. Lod, Mar 7, 2022. Photo by Shalev Shalom/TPS
Israel’s Authority for the Rights of Holocaust Survivors in the Ministry of Social Equality has approved the recognition of 320 new Holocaust survivors who have emigrated from Ukraine since the outbreak of the war in February. The survivors are entitled to receive an annual grant of NIS 6,500 per year, in addition to many other benefits such as exemption from paying for prescription drugs.
The survivors are all Russian speakers, in their 80s, and living all over the country in hotels or rented apartments.
Due to their difficult mental state as a result of the move to a foreign country and their late age, those who take care of the new survivors and help them with the bureaucracy are a special work team led by the social service of the authority.
According to the latest numbers published in mid-June, Israel’s Ministry of Immigration and Absorption welcomed 25,000 Olim (new immigrants) from Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus, as part of the historic operation for emergency reception of refugees from Ukraine and its environs.
Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, Israel has been conducting a broad national effort to rescue and absorb new immigrants from Ukraine and its environs, which has led to thousands of new immigrants choosing to come to Israel.
Most of the new immigrants received temporary lodgings in hotels, and from there most of them dispersed to the various cities for permanent residence, closely accompanied by the Ministry of Immigration and Absorption and the local authorities.
There are an estimated 200,000 Ukrainians who are eligible for Israeli citizenship through the Law of Return.
