The number of Jews leaving Russia rose steeply in 2014; many are making their way to Israel. According to Roman Super and Claire Bigg, they are fleeing an increasingly hostile regime:
Spooked by Russia’s actions in Ukraine
and by the increasingly stringent punishments for anyone deemed critical
of the Kremlin, Russians of Jewish descent have been fleeing in droves
over the past eighteen months. According to Israeli authorities, as many
as 4,685 Russian citizens relocated to Israel in 2014—more than double
than in any of the previous sixteen years. And the trend seems to be
accelerating. . . .
Zeev Khanin, an official at Israel’s
Immigrant Absorption Ministry, says the average Russian immigrant has
changed dramatically since the last mass exodus of Jews from Russia
ebbed in the late 1990s. He says newcomers from Russia are significantly
younger, more educated, and, as a rule, hail from Moscow or St.
Petersburg. “The average education level is on the rise and the number
of people with degrees in humanities has increased massively,” said
Khanin. “Today’s repatriates are mostly the creative intelligentsia.”
Read more at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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