By: Howard Flower and Karen Engle

The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem is gearing up to assist with a major wave of Aliyah to Israel this summer. Despite the current war raging in Gaza and the North, Israel is expecting more than 30,000 new Jewish immigrants this year. Over recent years, most of these olim (newcomers) have been Russian-speaking Jews from the former Soviet Union. Israeli authorities are now projecting a large wave of immigrant families also will come from Western countries due to rising antisemitism there.

The ICEJ has assisted more than 1,300 new immigrants so far this year, including sponsoring flights and assisting with the pre-Aliyah and integration phases of their arrival. These olim have come from Ethiopia, France, South Africa, and the former Soviet republics.

“We have numbers that we have not seen in decades – from France, South Africa, England and North America,” Avichai Kahana, Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, recently told The Jerusalem Post. Noting that 19,000 olim have come to Israel since the war started last October 7, he added: “This is a miracle. There is no other country in the world where so many people would come in the middle of a war.” 

Of the more than 12,000 new immigrants who came to Israel under its Law of Return between January and May, more than 70 percent, over 8,000, were from Russia, according to a government update given to the Knesset, the Times of Israel reported.

Immediately after October 7, Israeli officials noted a huge increase in Aliyah applications from Jews in France, the UK, South Africa, and North America. Normally it takes at least six months or more for Jewish families to get ready for Aliyah, so we are beginning to see the surge now.

The Jewish Agency for Israel, which oversees the Aliyah process, expects 15,500 Jewish immigrants to arrive from Western nations this year. That’s nearly 2.5 times the 6,220 immigrants who came from developed countries in 2023.

Ministry officials have projected that Aliyah from the West will surge this summer, with about 8,000 olim from developed countries expected to arrive by September.

We are now beginning the busy summer Aliyah season, when Jewish families move to Israel so that their children are ready for the new school year in September. Youth Aliyah programs also start in late August, such as the Naale program for high school students coming ahead of their parents, which the ICEJ has been supporting for many years. These children are getting ready for Aliyah starting with special summer camps the Christian Embassy has been sponsoring in the Russian-speaking republics for more than a decade.

In recent years Russian-speaking immigrants have comprised 70-80% of the total worldwide Aliyah figures. Since the war first began in Ukraine in 2014, nearly 250,000 Jews have come home to Israel from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic states.

Since 1980, the ICEJ has assisted more than 186,000 Jewish immigrants to come home to Israel, with the majority coming from former Soviet countries.

This year, the Jewish Agency has asked ICEJ to help with a special program for Russian-speaking Jews who have fled their homes and now live in Eastern and Western Europe. The program helps these Jewish war refugees when they start preparing for the final leg home to the land of their forefathers.

In many places in the Bible, the Lord invites Gentiles to help with this prophetic Ingathering of His people. For instance, Isaiah said: “Behold, I will lift My hand in an oath to the nations and set up My standard for the peoples; they shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.” (Isaiah 49:22)

The prophet Isaiah uses interesting wording to describe the significance of this demonstration of Gentile mercy towards the Jews. A “standard” was a banner erected high on a mountain in times of war to assemble soldiers in case of an invasion. Isaiah says a day is coming when God will summon Gentiles as a military leader musters his forces for battle to help bring the Jewish people home – but with great care and tenderness, as a father carrying his children.

Gentiles also are encouraged to remove any obstacles in the way of this return. “Pass through, pass through the gates! Prepare the way for the people. Build up, build up the highway! Remove the stones. Raise a banner for the nations.” (Isaiah 62:10)

Here, Isaiah foresees Gentile nations constructing a highway in which impediments are removed so the Jewish people can safely and easily pass, and even be escorted by Gentiles. Isaiah 57:14 contains a similar calling to build up and prepare the road, and “remove obstacles out of the way of My people.” (NIV)

In addition, Isaiah sees a time when Gentiles are to bring their wealth to Israel and rebuild the nation. “The sons of foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you; for in My wrath, I struck you, but in My favor, I have had mercy on you. Therefore, your gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day or night, that men may bring to you the wealth of the Gentiles, and their kings in procession.” (Isaiah 60:10–11)

During the Holocaust, Jews were stripped of all their earthly belongings, down to the gold fillings in their teeth. Yet Isaiah repeatedly speaks of a day when the “sons of foreigners” (Gentiles) will not only build up Israel’s walls but – in a divine turn of events – will help Israel with their material wealth.

Join with us today as the ICEJ helps bring the next wave of Aliyah home to Israel and plant them in the Land. We have already committed to sponsoring flights for 100 Ukrainian Jews in the coming weeks and many other opportunities are opening to us in France, South Africa and elsewhere to help bring more Jewish families home to Israel this summer. But we need your help to make it happen!

Donate today at: give.icej.org/aliyah

Photo credit: JAFI