Immigration to Israel has continued uninterrupted since the establishment of the state. At times of war and even during a pandemic that has been raging all over the world. Along with an abundance of successful Aliyah stories, new immigrants arriving in the country face many challenges.
As Israel marks Immigration and Absorption Week, Ynet, Yedioth Ahronoth and Vesty, will host a conference in cooperation with the Ministry of Immigration and Absorption and the Jewish Agency focused immigrants and immigration, that will be carried live on Ynet as of 10 am Monday.
The conference will attempt to answer some important questions:
How has immigration continued during the coronavirus pandemic?
What is the answer to excessive policing of the Ethiopian immigration community?
What are the ongoing battles of immigrants from the former Soviet Union?
Is an immigrant always to remain an immigrant?
The conference is moderated by Yityish "Titi" Aynaw, who's immigration and absorption in Israel is an inspiring tale, and Ynet's Atilla Somfalvi.
It will focus on the triumphs but also on the challenges of immigration and absorption in Israel today.
Since the establishment of the state, immigration of Jews, Aliya - or ascent, as it is called, has never stopped, even at the height of the pandemic.
Jews arrived from all corners of the globe just as Theodor Herzl, the father of Zionism, predicted in his book Altneuland, published in 1902. Herzl wrote that a dream can become the reality.
Over the years, those words have come to fruition with Jews gathering to create the state of Israel in their own image, as they assimilated in all aspects of life, although still today, many immigrants are still struggling.
The conference will host President Issac Herzog, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Minister of immigration and Absorption Pnina Tamano-Shata, Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman, Chairman of the World Zionist Organization - MK Yuli Edelstein, Acting Jewish Agency Chairman - Yaakov, Hagoel, Director General of the ministry of Immigration and Absorption – Ronen Cohen and Director General of the Jewish Agency - Amira Aharonowitz.
Minister Tmano-Shata will answer questions on the health challenges facing immigrants during the pandemic and on the previous government's 2015 commitment to bring to Israel the remaining Jewish community in Ethiopia.
3 View gallery
Israelis of Ethiopian decent protest calling for remaining Jews in Ethiopia being allowed to immigrate, in Jerusalem in August
(Photo: Amit Shabi)
MK Edelstein will speak about the immeasurable sacrifice that he had to make in order to immigrate to Israel, during a time when his efforts to do so, branded him a traitor to his country and made him a prisoner of Zion - a title that had filled him with pride.
The conference will also hear from men and women who will share their own experiences of immigration, among them actress Sandra Sadeh, who immigrated from Romania and settled in Bat yam; Poet Alex Rif who heads the Million Lobby an advocacy group for immigrants from Russian speaking countries. Alex will speak about the basic rights, still evading some, such as the right to marry.