ISRAELI IMMIGRATION SINCE 1900
AND SINCE STATEHOOD IN 1948

      ON MAY 14, 1948, THE STATE OF ISRAEL WAS PROCLAIMED INTO BEING FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE THE ROMAN OCCUPATION OF THE FIRST CENTURY. THAT PROCLAMATION READS, "THE STATE OF ISRAEL WILL BE OPEN FOR JEWISH IMMIGRATION AND THE INGATHERING OF EXILES FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD; THIS NATION WILL FOSTER THE DEVELOPEMENT OF THE COUNTRY FOR ALL OF ITS FORGOTTEN PEOPLE, IT SHALL BE BASED UPON FREEDOM, JUSTICE, AND PEACE ENVISIONED BY THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL.

      ISRAEL PASSED THE "LAW OF RETURN" IN 1950, WHICH CALLED UPON EVERY JEW AROUND THE WORLD TO FEEL WELCOME TO RETURN TO THE PROMISED LAND, AND BECOME A CITIZEN OF ISRAEL. WITH THE GATES FLUNG WIDE OPEN AFTER STATEHOOD WAS ANNOUNCED AND ISRAEL SURVIVED ITS WAR OF INDEPENDENCE, 687,000 JEWS IMMIGRATED TO ISRAEL'S SHORES

      THE JEWISH POPULATION IN PALESTINE WAS ONLY 12,000 AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY, WHILE THAT AMOUNT GREW TO 85,000 AFTER WORLD WAR I. BY 1931 THE FIGURE HAD CLIMBED UP TO 175,000 LIVING IN PALESTINE. BY THE TIME JUST BEFORE WORLD WAR II IN 1939, WHEN GREAT BRITAIN STOPPED JEWISH IMMIGRATION INTO PALESTINE, IN AN EFFORT TO APPEASE THE ARAB OIL INTERESTS, 450,000 JEWS WERE LIVING IN PALESTINE.

      FROM 1948 TO 1951, WHEN THE DOORS OF IMMIGRATION WERE FINALLY OPENED UP, ABOUT 700,000 JEWS MADE THE PILGRIMAGE INTO THE NEW STATE OF ISRAEL.

      OF THE 800,000 PALESTINIAN ARABS WHO LIVED IN PALESTINE AT THE OUTBREAK OF THE ARAB WAR OF EXTINCTION IN 1948, 630,000 OF THEM FLED PALESTINE, ONLY TO BE REFUSED ENTRY INTO ANY OF THE NEIGHBORING ARAB STATES THAT LAUNCHED THE WAR ON ISRAEL. ABOUT 167,000 PALESTINIANS REMAINED BEHIND IN ISRAEL, AND BECAME CITIZENS OF ISRAEL.

      ISRAEL WILL GO TO GREAT LENGTHS TO RESCUE JEWS ALL AROUND THE WORLD WHEN THEY ARE IMPERILED. A CASE IN POINT IS THE MIRACULOUS RESCUE MISSION KNOWN AS "OPERATION SOLOMON" OF THE PERSECUTED JEWS OF ETHOIPIA.

      ON MAY 23, 1991, ISRAELI AIR FORCES BEGAN A MASSIVE AIRLIFT OF ALMOST THE ENTIRE JEWISH POPULATION OF ETHIOPIA TO ISRAEL. BY MAY 25TH, SOME 14,200 EHTIOPIAN JEWS HAD BEEN TRANSPORTED ON 40 FLIGHTS BACK TO ISRAEL. IN FLIGHT SEVEN BABIES WERE BORN, AND MANY TREATED FOR INJURIES.

      INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT ISRAELI IMMIGRATION FOR 1996, 82% OF ALL IMMIGRANTS CAME FROM THE FORMER SOVIET UNION

      ISRAEL IS ABSORBING MANY OF THE 180,000 JEWS WHO LIVED IN THE MUSLIM REPUBLICS OF THE FORMER SOVIET UNION, THAT ARE NOW BEING PERSECUTED THERE.

      MANY OF ISRAEL'S IMMIGRANTS REQUIRE SPECIAL MEDICAL SERVICE AND ASSISTANCE. ONE-THIRD OF ALL THE RUSSIAN IMMIGRANTS ARE OVER 60 YEARS OF AGE

      SINCE 1948, THERE HAVE BEEN NEARLY 1,000,000 IMMIGRANTS FROM RUSSIA ALONE.

      THE MUSLIM REPUBLICS OF NORTH AFRICA HAVE SEEN NEARLY 500,000 NATIVE JEWS LEAVE.

      NEARLY ALL THE JEWISH POPULATIONS OF THE ARABIC NATIONS IN THE MIDDLE EAST HAVE IMMIGRATED INTO ISRAEL. IRAQ, FOR EXAMPLE HAS SEEN 200,000 DEPORT, LEAVING ONLY 120 JEWS IN SADDAAM HUSSEIN'S IRAQ.

      IN 1984, ISRAEL AIRLIFTED ABOUT 25,000 JEWS OUT OF SUDAN, IN ANOTHER RESCUE EFFORT CALLED "OPERATION MOSES".

      IN 1939 AT THE OUTSET OF WORLD WAR II, ONLY 3% OF THE WORLD JEWISH POPUALTION LIVED IN PALESTINE, WHILE TODAY THAT FIGURE IS APPROACHING THE 50% LEVEL. HITLER KILLED 2/3 OF EUROPEAN JEWRY, WHICH AMOUNTED TO 1/3 OF THE TOTAL WORLD JEWRY POPULATION IN 1945. RUSSIA UNDER STALIN ALSO KILLED UNTOLD THOUSANDS MORE.

      THE RESETTLEMENT OF JEWS IN ISRAEL TODAY IS A MAJOR CONTROVERSY AROUND THE WORLD. EVERY NATION AROUND THE WORLD HAS DEMANDED THAT ISRAEL REFRAIN FROM SETTLEMENT CONSTRUCTION IN THE LANDS THAT IT HAS ACQUIRED THROUGH VICTORIOUS WARS FOR SURVIVAL. A NEW STATE OF PALESTINE WILL PUT AN END TO SETTTLEMENT CONSTRUCTION, AND PERHAPS LIMIT IMMIGRATION CAPABILITIES FOR ISRAEL.

      ZECHARIAH 8:7 THUS SAITH THE LORD OF HOSTS; BEHOLD, I WILL SAVE MY PEOPLE FROM THE EAST COUNTRY AND FROM THE WEST COUNTRY.

      ISAIAH 43:5-6 FEAR NOT, FOR I AM WITH THEE; I WILL BRING THY SEED FROM THE EAST AND GATHER THEE FROM THE WEST; I WILL SAY TO THE NORTH, GIVE UP, AND I WILL SAY TO THE SOUTH, KEEP THEM NOT BACK!