Migration Patterns in the Contemporary Jewish World: The Other Side of Return: Non-Jewish Immigrants to Israel, 1984-2023

• In Event: Migration Patterns in the Contemporary Jewish World

Abstract

Immigration to Israel is regulated by the Law of Return, which addressed to rights of Jews in the world and their families to freely immigrate and receive Israeli citizenship, and to other types of immigrants, covered by other laws on entry in the country and citizenship. While attention is generally focused on patterns of Jewish immigration from different countries, this innovative paper will address the size and characteristics of immigration by non-Jewish family members. These are heavily concentrated among immigrants from the Former Soviet Union, but cover to a different extent all countries in the Jewish Diaspora. In recent years non-Jews represented the majority of total new immigrants, and this also reverberates on the prospects for future Jewish migration. The paper is based on an original processing of new data from Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, as well as other sources. Annual responses to changing determinants of migration in the countries of origin demonstrate the amount of dependency of aliyah on local push factors, as well as on variable circumstances in Israel. The demographic profile of non-Jewish immigrants is also highly selective by personal characteristics. These trends have prompted a vivacious political debate about reforming the Law of Return. Different amendment proposals and their possible influence and costs for the future of immigration to Israel will be discussed.

Author

• Sergio DellaPergola, Hebrew University of Jerusalem