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World Zionist Organization Chair: Immigration to Israel Has Not Slowed Since Oct. 7, 100,000 New Olim Expected
Jewish immigration to Israel has not slowed over the past year despite the ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza, according to the chairman of the World Zionist Organization.
Yaakov Hagoel told The Algemeiner in an interview that since Oct. 7, when Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists invaded southern Israel and launched the war, more than 29,000 people have made aliyah, the process of Jews immigrating to Israel.
Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack — in which the Palestinian terror group killed 1,200 people, took another 251 hostage, and committed rampant sexual violence — began a war “not only against the State of Israel, but also against the entire Jewish people,” Hagoel said. He added that the onslaught, the largest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, “caused the Jewish community in Israel and around the world to feel less safe and secure.”
Since Oct. 7, antisemitism around the world has spiked to alarming levels. The Anti-Defamation League released a report in April showing antisemitic incidents in the US rose 140 percent last year, reaching a record high. Most of the outrages occurred after Oct. 7, during the ensuing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Meanwhile, such outrages have also skyrocketed to record highs in several other countries around the world, especially in Europe, since the Hamas atrocities. In France,for example, Jewish leaders have expressed concern about the safety of their community if French Jews don’t leave the country.
Consequently, Hagoel continued, “Jews around the world are looking for something more secure that they can rely on to raise their children and to link them to the Jewish traditions. And there’s no doubt that the interest in aliyah since Oct. 7 is related to it and hasn’t happened in many, many years.”
According to data from Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, the number of annual immigrants to Israel since 2010 has ranged from almost 75,000 people to just 13,000 — with most years between 15,000 and 30,000. This would make the year after Oct. 7 relatively consistent with the past decade and a half.
However, Hagoel said he expects 100,000 new olim — the Hebrew term for immigrants who move to Israel — to come after the Israel-Hamas war is over.
Because of the war, Hagoel explained, “the expectation is that they would fall dramatically and they haven’t done that.”
But the reason people are coming is not just because of the war, he said. It is also because “anyone that makes aliyah is fulfilling a dream of returning home. So, the security situation around the world is a trigger to expedite that will to come home.”
In fact, Hagoel added, “there has been a dramatic increase in numbers in the opening of files to express an interest in aliyah and to begin the process — that’s increased by around 300 percent since the same period last year.”
After a recent plane of new olim came from France, Hagoel said it “demonstrates that the Jewish people are determined to continue building their future in our homeland, the land of Israel. This unprecedented aliyah is a testament to the recognition of the global Jewish community that Israel is not just a refuge, but a beacon of hope and faith.”
Asked about a message he had for the Jewish world, Hagoel emphasized the responsibility he felt to Jews across the world, regardless if they will make aliyah, and how important it is to help them.
He said he and his organization feel a “responsibility for all the Jews who live in Israel, those who will live in Israel, and those who will never live here.”
The post World Zionist Organization Chair: Immigration to Israel Has Not Slowed Since Oct. 7, 100,000 New Olim Expected first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran to Boycott World Cup Draw Over Visa Restrictions
Soccer Football – World Cup Playoff Tournament and European Playoff draws – FIFA Headquarters, Zurich, Switzerland- November 20, 2025 The original FIFA World Cup trophy is kept on display during the draws. Photo: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
Iran intends to boycott next week’s World Cup draw due to the limited number of visas allocated to the country’s football federation.
According to the Tehran Times, the United States issued visas to only four members of Iran‘s delegation, with requests for three additional visas denied, including one for Iranian Football Federation (FFIRI) President Mehdi Taj.
“We have informed FIFA that the decisions taken are unrelated to sport and that the members of the Iranian delegation will not participate in the World Cup draw,” FFIRI spokesman Mehdi Alavi said on Friday, per the report.
Alavi said the federation has been in contact with FIFA in an effort to resolve the situation.
The World Cup draw will take place on Dec. 5 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
The expanded 48-team World Cup is being hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19, 2026. Matches will be played at 16 venues, including three in Mexico and two in Canada.
The draw will sort the teams into 12 groups of four. The top two teams from each group and the eight best third-place teams will advance to the knockout stage.
Iran has secured a spot in its fourth consecutive World Cup and seventh appearance overall.
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Dublin to Rename Chaim Herzog Park in a Move Slammed as Attempt to Erase Jewish History
Anti-Israel demonstrators stand outside the Israeli embassy after Ireland has announced it will recognize a Palestinian state, in Dublin, Ireland, May 22, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Molly Darlington
i24 News – Citing the Gaza war, Dublin city council voted to rename a park honoring Israel’s sixth president, the Irish-born Chaim Herzog, in further manifestation of anti-Israel sentiment in the country.
While a new name is yet to be chosen, reports cite efforts by pro-Palestinian activists to change it to the “Free Palestine Park.”
Former Irish justice minister Alan Shatter harshly criticized the vote, charging that “Dublin City Council has now gone full on Nazi & a committee of the Council has determined it should erase Jewish/Irish history. Herzog Park in Rathgar is named after Chaim Herzog, Israel’s 6th President, brought up in Dublin by his father, Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, a friend of Eamon De Valera, who was Chief Rabbi of Ireland & Israel’s first Chief Rabbi… Some councillors want the Park renamed ‘Free Palestine Park.”
The Jewish Representative Council of Ireland issued a statement regarding the renaming of Herzog Park.
“It sends a hurtful and isolating message to a small minority community that has contributed to Ireland for centuries. We call on Dublin City Councillors to reject this motion. The removal of the Herzog name from this park would be widely understood as an attempt to erase our Irish Jewish history.”
A virtuoso diplomat and an intellectual giant, Herzog had served in a variety of roles throughout his storied career, including a memorable stint as the ambassador to the United Nations, where in 1975 he delivered a speech condemning the Soviet-engineered resolution to brand Zionism as a form of racism. The address is now regarded as a classic, along with the oration from the same session by the US Ambassador Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar slammed the decision, saying that Ireland’s “antisemitic and anti-Israel obsession is sickening.”
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Qatar’s Al Thani to Visit Beirut Wednesday to Meet with Lebanon’s Leaders
Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani makes statements to the media with then-US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in Doha, Qatar, Oct. 13, 2023. Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed Al Thani will visit Beirut on Wednesday to meet with Lebanon’s leaders, Al-Jadeed reported Saturday.
The visit comes “as part of an effort inseparable from the efforts by Egypt in coordination with Arab countries, foremost among them Saudi Arabia.”
The trip coincides with a sensitive period for the country, ravaged by war and deep economic crisis.
Lebanon is under growing pressure from both Israel and the United States to more swiftly disarm Hezbollah and other Islamist groups across the country, with Israel increasingly inclined to stop the Shiite militia from rearming and rebuilding its infrastructure.
Hezbollah was left devastated in the aftermath of a nine-day war last year, that saw Israel take out its command structure and lay waste to a significant proportion of its missile arsenal.