The Israeli government is advancing a plan for emergency aliyah and immigration absorption amid rising global levels of antisemitism and apprehension following last Sunday's Bondi Beach Hanukkah terrorist attack.
The “Aliyat HaTekuma” plan was requested by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a few days before the Sydney terrorist attack, and presented by Aliyah Minister Ofir Sofer at a meeting on Sunday, but the murder of 15 people at the Hanukkah event created new urgency. Sofer told The Jerusalem Post that the government expected a significant number of immigrants, keeping in mind the impact of the Israel-Hamas war on Jews around the world.
"We are witnessing a serious wave of antisemitism in many Western countries, with governments not acting adequately to eradicate the phenomenon, including the Australian government, despite repeated warnings," said Sofer. "At the same time, we are seeing growing interest in immigration, and more and more immigrants are coming from France and Britain, and we estimate that the surge in numbers will also be felt in Australia, certainly after the terrible attack. The Prime Minister instructed us to formulate a comprehensive plan to encourage and absorb immigration, and in combination with the many plans we have already advanced, I believe that we will see a significant increase in the number of immigrants who understand that their future is in the State of Israel."
The proposal set a target to absorb 30,000 new immigrants in 2026, primarily from countries suffering from a drastic rise in antisemitism, including the United Kingdom, France, and Australia. The plan would see the initial reception process take six months and full integration by the end of three years. To reduce the turnaround time for aliyah eligibility acceptance to 30 days, the apostille certification system would be discontinued, a 24/6 call center would be established in French and English, and Jewish recognition would be outsourced to local Jewish communities.
The Aliyah Ministry hoped to achieve this mass absorption and integration process by providing monthly stipends to olim for the first year, a house manager to aid in finding homes, unified oleh housing contracts, and profession-oriented and new types of Hebrew programs. Vocational training and immediate certification recognition would be offered, building on previous reforms easing the transfer of certification for certain professions.
The reception of new immigrants would be eased through the designation of prepared "absorption" cities, which would include Beersheba, Nahariya, Ariel, Ashkelon, Haifa, Afula, and Arad.
The plan is expected to cost 600 million shekels in the first year, and another 1.1 billion in the second year.
While the plan wasn't drafted with the Bondi Beach massacre in mind, the Aliyah Ministry noted that many Australian Jews have long been considering immigration to Israel, with the attack the culmination of two years of escalating antisemitism and radicalism.
Zvi Hauser: The current moment is a historic window
The plan was debated publicly over the weekend, after former cabinet secretary and former Knesset member Zvi Hauser argued in a Saturday opinion piece that Israel should view the current moment as a historic window, not a routine administrative file.
Hauser wrote in Israel Hayom that aliyah should be led directly by the prime minister and managed as a strategic national event through a dedicated, emergency-level cabinet that coordinates across security, economy, housing, education, employment, infrastructure, justice, and foreign affairs. He warned that antisemitism was increasingly “entering the mainstream,” and that the Sydney attack should have jolted decision makers in Jerusalem because it signaled a broader pattern, not an isolated overseas incident.
In the same op-ed, Hauser urged a proactive national effort he dubbed “the 11th million,” calling for Israel to act quickly to translate momentum into policy and bring a million Jews to Israel in the coming years, arguing that such windows can close quietly if leadership hesitates.
According to the Aliyah Ministry, the emergency proposal is unrelated to an emergency aliyah simulation held at the end of November.
According to the plan, over the last three years, Israel has seen almost 60,000 new immigrants from Russia, 9600 from the US, 6,500 from France, and almost 2,000 from the UK.