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Over 20k immigrants to Israel since Ukraine war began; almost half from Russia

ZVIKA KLEIN

The war between Russia and Ukraine is sending out refugees from both sides

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Ukrainian Jews return to Israel. /  (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)

Since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war, more than twenty-one thousand Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian individuals; eligible for the Israeli Law of Return have entered Israel and most of them are already Israeli citizens.

Expectations versus reality

Yet even though there were expectations of hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Ukraine – almost half of the immigrants are from Russia. 21,404 entitled to the Right of Return have arrived in Israel since the Russian-Ukraine broke out in February, most of them have already officially become Israeli citizens – according to data from the Ministry of Aliyah and Absorption on Tuesday.

According to the ministry, 1,153 of those who are entitled to make aliyah have still not finished their immigration process. 10,019 of the immigrants are from Ukraine, 9,777 are from Russia and 455 made aliyah from Belarus. On Monday, 211 new immigrants arrived in Israel from these countries.

REFUGEES FROM Ukraine and Russia board their aliyah flight at Chisinau Airport. (credit: BRIAN SCHRAUGER)

The Jerusalem Post spoke at the beginning of the week to about a dozen new immigrants from Russia who have arrived in Israel in the past few months and left for different reasons. Most of them have already returned to the Jewish state and most of the others intend to return in the near future.

“I don’t know any recent immigrants from Russia who have returned to Russia with no future plans to come back to Israel,” said Alex, a Russian Jew who made aliyah recently from Moscow. “Most of the people returned to Russia for some time because the decision to come to Israel was urgent and not well-prepared.”

These olim (new immigrants) feel the need to speak up as a result of public discussion in Israel after the Post’s inquiry a month ago claiming that some 1,800 of the Russian Jews who immigrated to Israel since the war began have returned to Russia with their new Israeli passports. Alex and the rest of the new immigrants who spoke to the Post have asked for their names not to be revealed because they are afraid of being threatened by the Russian regime.

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Farmer unearths face of 4,500 year old statue in Gaza

JUDITH SUDILOVSKY

Topped by snake crown, Palestinian archaeological authorities identify face with love and warrior goddess worshipped by numerous ancient Semitic cultures

Men work in a newly discovered Roman cemetery in Gaza, in this handout photo obtained by Reuters, February 17, 2022. / (photo credit: REUTERS)

A Palestinian farmer cultivating his land in city of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip unearthed the head of an ancient sculpture which Palestinian archaeology authorities identified as Canaanite dating back to about 2500 BCE.

Wafa News Agency – English @WAFANewsEnglish
Canaanite sculpture dating back to about 2500 BC discovered in the Gaza Strip.

The head of the stone sculpture, which measures 22 cm tall (8.6 inches long), is carved out of limestone, but the body of the statue is missing, according to WAFA, the Palestinian National Authority news agency. The head is topped with a snake crown, a symbol of strength and invincibility used by the Canaanite gods, the agency noted.

The news agency said the sculpture represents the Canaanite goddess Anah, the goddess of love, beauty as well as of war according to Canaanite mythology.

The goddess is also known by the names of Anat, Anatu, Antit and Anath among other names. She was a major Semitic goddess worshipped in various incarnations.

Men work in a newly discovered Roman cemetery in Gaza, in this handout photo obtained by Reuters, February 17, 2022. (credit: REUTERS)

She was also worshiped in Egypt and in Ugarit, an ancient port city in northern Syria, as well as in Cyprus and Mesopotamia.

A papyri account from Elephantine, Egypt — modern-day Aswan — mentions a goddess called Anat-Yahu who was worshipped in the temple dedicated to Yahweh. The temple was built by Jewish refugees of the Babylonian conquest of Judah. There, she was even described as the wife or consort of Yahweh.  

She is also thought to be the precursor of the Greek goddess Athena, as divine warrior maidens.

Bar Ilan University professor of archaeology Aren Maeir noted that the statue face was unlike any other he had seen, making it difficult to verify its origins or age despite the statement quoted in the press from the Hamas Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities identifying it as Canaanite, he said. 

“I don’t recognize the statue as anything I have seen before. I don’t recognize it so I don’t know what it is. It is hard to say from what period it is,” he said.  

Regardless, he said, trying to connect the statue in any way to current modern-day politics is “irrelevant.”

“One statue here or there doesn’t change anything. There is nothing to this, basically it is a non-issue made into an issue because an article appeared with a picture. It is a little blip. I don’t even know if it is real, but if it is real, it is a very interesting find, but that is about it,” he said. “It could be something completely new or could have been brought from somewhere else.”

A massive shakeup as Meretz MK Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi resigned from the governing coalition.

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