Immigration to Israel Drops as More Russian Jews Prefer Germany

The Haaretz newspaper reported on Monday that 22,134 Jews moved to Israel in 2004 — down from 24,434 the previous year. The paper cited the Jewish Agency’s Sunday report as its information source. An 18 percent drop in immigration from the former Soviet Union fueled the decline, the agency said. It cited the dwindling reservoir of Jews living in the region, but also noted that a large number of Russian Jews are choosing to move to Germany instead of Israel. Michael Jankelowitz, a Jewish Agency spokesman, said just over 10,000 Jews from the Soviet Union moved to Israel last year. In comparison, 12,000 moved to Germany, where he said they are granted refugee status and receive generous welfare benefits. Israel has pressed Germany to cancel its absorption benefits to help encourage the remaining 800,000 Jews in former Soviet lands to move to Israel, he said. Since the collapse of Communism 15 years ago, more than 1 million Jews from the former Soviet Union have immigrated to Israel.