JERUSALEM (JTA) — A plane carrying 240 Ukrainian immigrants landed in Israel.
The flight that landed on Monday was chartered by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.
The group of immigrants is made up of 62 families, including 60 children and adolescents and 10 immigrants above the age 70, as well as 14 cats and dogs. The new immigrants plan to settle in 26 different cities and towns across Israel, including Bat Yam, Katzrin, Haifa, Netanya, Eilat and Rishon L’Zion, according to the Fellowship.
In 2014, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews launched an independent project to facilitate immigration to Israel. Since then, immigrants from 19 countries around the world, including 5,418 from Ukraine, have arrived in Israel.
The new immigrants receive from the Fellowship $800 in financial aid per adult and $400 per child, as well as the cost of their airline tickets, in addition to the basket of benefits provided by Israel’s Ministry of Absorption.
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, in a statement called it a “privilege” to help assist immigrants to Israel.
“Immigration is an engine of societal growth, economic development and the realization of the Zionist dream. The immigration project is still far from complete, and there are still countless Jews around the world seeking to come to Israel for reasons ranging from Zionist ideals to distress to risk,” Eckstein also said.
