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Amid surging aliyah, Jews from former USSR gather for community’s biggest annual event in Israel
TIBERIAS, Israel — In a year when Israel has seen more immigrants move to the country from former Soviet republics than any other year over the last decade, there was plenty to discuss, worry about and celebrate at a major gathering of such Jews at Israel’s only lakeside city, Tiberias.
On the first weekend in December, over 1,200 Jews with roots in the former Soviet Union gathered at a resort hotel overlooking the Sea of Galilee for a weekend of Israeli and Jewish culture, food, music, dancing and comedy. Organized by Limmud FSU Israel’s team of more than 150 volunteers from a wide range of ages, the conference was held in a mix of Hebrew and Russian.
Through the first 10 months of 2022, over 47,330 immigrants have moved to Israel from former Soviet republics, with over 14,000 coming from Ukraine and over 30,000 from Russia. That’s about double the number of immigrants to Israel from former Soviet countries in 2019, the year before the pandemic limited immigration. Over 80% of all immigrants to Israel this year hail from formerly Soviet countries.
Osik Akselrud, regional director for Hillel International in Central Asia and Southeastern Europe and Limmud FSU Ukraine chair, said this is a particularly dark time for Jews in the former Soviet Union. With Russia’s war against Ukraine now in its 10th month, those remaining in Ukraine face the prospect of a freezing, dark winter without electricity.
“We are having a very hard time,” Akselrud said. “We feel part of the Limmud FSU family and are grateful for everything you’re doing for us, especially during these dramatic times. It’s like a breath of fresh air for all Ukrainians. Thank you for standing with us.”
Limmud FSU organizes Jewish learning festivals the world over for Jews with roots in the former Soviet Union.
The Tiberias event was held just a week before a scheduled Limmud FSU seminar in Warsaw, which took place Dec. 8-10. That gathering was focused on Ukrainian Jews still living in Ukraine as well as those who have fled to Europe and Israel to escape the war in their country. In March, Limmud FSU will hold another milestone conference: the first ever in Germany, another hub of refuge for Ukrainian Jews.
“The situation is devastating, and sadly it’s not getting better,” Matthew Bronfman, chairman of Limmud FSU, said of the war in Ukraine. “Berlin has been a desire of ours for more than a decade, and now with the recent influx of refugees there from war-torn regions, it’s amazing that we’ll be able to make it a reality for next March.”
Among the prominent speakers at the December conference were Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s outgoing finance minister and a native of the former Soviet republic of Moldova; Elkayim Rubinstein, former vice president of Israel’s Supreme Court; Ze’ev Elkin, Israel’s outgoing minister of Jerusalem affairs and minister of housing and construction; Eliezer Shkedi, former commander of the Israel Air Force from 2004 to 2008; Amir Avivi, founder & CEO of Israel’s Defense & Security Forum, a movement of Israeli security personnel advocating for Israel’s security needs; Rabbi Jonathan Porath, who recounted the story of his lifetime of experiences with Soviet and post-Soviet Jews spanning over 50 years; and Ephraim Lapid, former senior intelligence officer in the Israel Defense Forces.
Attendees of the December 2022 Limmud FSU conference in Tiberias, Israel, included, from left to right, Monaco Jewish leader Jacques Wolzok and Nazi hunters Beate Klarsfeld and Serge Klarsfeld. (Alex Khanin)
Lapid spoke of Israel’s essential role as a safe haven for Jews everywhere.
“If you’re Christian and you’re in trouble, can you come to Italy, a Christian nation, and say you want citizenship? Of course not. If you’re Muslim, can you go to Saudi Arabia and get automatic citizenship? It doesn’t exist,” Lapid said. “Israel is the only country in the world where Jews receive shelter, both physically and spiritually.”
Limmud FSU’s founder, Chaim Chesler, thanked the 150 volunteers who organized the Tiberias event and noted that more than 80,000 people have participated in Limmud FSU programs since 2005.
“Sandra Cahn and I created Limmud FSU nearly 18 years ago,” Chesler said. “Who would believe that after 18 years we’d continue to flourish and educate Jews now in 12 countries?”
Highlights of the weekend festival included performances of Hebrew and Yiddish hits by singer Vladi Blayberg and violinist Sanya Kroitor; a concert by Stas Gavrilov’s 10-piece Klezmerband; a master class given by Ukrainian ballerina Valeriya Kholodova; and a Russian-language standup comedy routine by Ilya Axelrod.
Special recognition was extended to world-famous Nazi hunters Serge and Beate Klarsfeld, whose life mission has been to bring Nazi war criminals and their French collaborators to justice. The two received a sustained standing ovation following the screening of a short documentary film on the 76,000 French Jews who were deported to Nazi concentration camps during World War II; only 3,000 survived.
“I was a child during the Holocaust, and escaped arrest because my father built a hiding place in our house,” said Klarsfeld, 87. “When the Germans came, he opened the door and sacrificed himself, but we were hidden behind a false wall. They looked for us but didn’t find us. After the war, I devoted my life to tracking Nazi criminals and helping the State of Israel.”
Limmud FSU Israel participants listen during Ilya Axelrod’s stand-up performance in Tiberias, Israel, December 2022. (Yulia Berzon)
Among Limmud FSU Israel’s key supporters are the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany, Nativ – Prime Minister’s Office, Genesis Philanthropy Group, the Jewish National Fund-Keren Kayemet LeIsrael, the World Zionist Organization, UJA-Federation of New York and philanthropists Diane Wohl and Bill Hess.
Speakers also touched on Israeli politics on the eve of what’s expected to be the swearing-in of a new right-wing government headed by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Rubinstein, who served as Israel’s attorney general from 1997 to 2003, urged the new government not to weaken the country’s Supreme Court, which he called “a defender of human and civil rights” — particularly when it comes to gender issues, issues of religion and state and equity between Jews and Arabs.
“The ability to petition decisions straight to the Supreme Court has made it a strategic asset of the State of Israel, and I’m concerned about ideas to curb the court’s powers,” Rubinstein said. “I hope the politicians understand that while the court may make mistakes and be criticized, there’s a difference between criticism and undermining the court’s work.”
Shkedi, who spent several years as El Al’s CEO after leaving the Israel Air Force, stressed the importance of Jewish unity and urged for an end to political infighting.
“You can think one way and me another, but that doesn’t mean I’m the only one who’s right,” he said. “The priority for Israel now is learning how to live together. This is our biggest mission.”
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Rep. Ilhan Omar says Stephen Miller’s comments on immigrants sound like how ‘Nazis described Jewish people’
Rep Ilhan Omar, Democrat of Minnesota, on Sunday likened the Trump administration’s immigration rhetoric to Nazi depictions of Jews.
“It reminds me of the way the Nazis described Jewish people in Germany,” Omar said in an interview on CBS’s Face the Nation, commenting on a social media post by Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump’s senior adviser, in which he suggested that “migrants and their descendants recreate the conditions, and terrors, of their broken homelands.” Miller, who is Jewish, is the architect of the Trump administration’s immigration policy.
Omar called Miller’s comments “white supremist rhetoric” and also drew parallels between his characterization of migrants seeking refuge in the U.S. to how Jews were demonized and treated when they fled Nazi-era Germany. “As we know, there have been many immigrants who have tried to come to the United States who have turned back, you know, one of them being Jewish immigrants,” she said.
Now serving as Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy, Miller is central to the White House’s plans for mass deportations and expanded barriers to asylum. During Trump’s first term, Miller led the implementation of the so-called Muslim travel ban in 2017, which barred entry to the U.S. for individuals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, and pushed to further reduce a longtime refugee program.
Rep. Ilhan Omar: “When I think about Stephen Miller and his white supremacist rhetoric, it reminds me of the way the Nazis described Jewish people in Germany.” pic.twitter.com/GAjIMqFq26
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 7, 2025
Miller’s comments echoed similar rhetoric by Trump after an Afghan refugee was accused of shooting two National Guard members near the White House last month, killing one.
Trump told reporters at a cabinet meeting last week that Somali immigrants are “garbage” and that he wanted them to be sent “back to where they came from.” The president also singled out Omar, a Somali native who represents Minnesota’s large Somali-American community. “She should be thrown the hell out of our country,” Trump said.
In the Sunday interview, Omar called Trump’s remarks “completely disgusting” and accused him of having “an unhealthy obsession” with her and the Somali community. “This kind of hateful rhetoric and this level of dehumanizing can lead to dangerous actions by people who listen to the president,” she said.
The post Rep. Ilhan Omar says Stephen Miller’s comments on immigrants sound like how ‘Nazis described Jewish people’ appeared first on The Forward.
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Nigeria Seeks French Help to Combat Insecurity, Macron Says
French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Sept. 15, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/Pool
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has sought more help from France to fight widespread violence in the north of the country, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday, weeks after the United States threatened to intervene to protect Nigeria’s Christians.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has witnessed an upsurge in attacks in volatile northern areas in the past month, including mass kidnappings from schools and a church.
US President Donald Trump has raised the prospect of possible military action in Nigeria, accusing it of mistreating Christians. The government says the allegations misrepresent a complex security situation in which armed groups target both faith groups.
Macron said he had a phone call with Tinubu on Sunday, where he conveyed France’s support to Nigeria as it grapples with several security challenges, “particularly the terrorist threat in the North.”
“At his request, we will strengthen our partnership with the authorities and our support for the affected populations. We call on all our partners to step up their engagement,” Macron said in a post on X.
Macron did not say what help would be offered by France, which has withdrawn its troops from West and Central Africa and plans to focus on training, intelligence sharing and responding to requests from countries for assistance.
Nigeria is grappling with a long-running Islamist insurgency in the northeast, armed kidnapping gangs in the northwest and deadly clashes between largely Muslim cattle herders and mostly Christian farmers in the central parts of the country, stretching its security forces.
Washington said last month that it was considering actions such as sanctions and Pentagon engagement on counterterrorism as part of a plan to compel Nigeria to better protect its Christian communities.
The Nigerian government has said it welcomes help to fight insecurity as long as its sovereignty is respected. France has previously supported efforts to curtail the actions of armed groups, the US has shared intelligence and sold arms, including fighter jets, and Britain has trained Nigerian troops.
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Netanyahu Says He Will Not Quit Politics if He Receives a Pardon
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participates in the state memorial ceremony for the fallen of the Iron Swords War on Mount Herzl, Jerusalem on Oct. 16, 2025. Photo: Alex Kolomoisky/POOL/Pool via REUTERS
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he would not retire from politics if he receives a pardon from the country’s president in his years-long corruption trial.
Asked by a reporter if planned on retiring from political life if he receives a pardon, Netanyahu replied: “no”.
Netanyahu last month asked President Isaac Herzog for a pardon, with lawyers for the prime minister arguing that frequent court appearances were hindering Netanyahu’s ability to govern and that a pardon would be good for the country.
Pardons in Israel have typically been granted only after legal proceedings have concluded and the accused has been convicted. There is no precedent for issuing a pardon mid-trial.
Netanyahu has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in response to the charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, and his lawyers have said that the prime minister still believes the legal proceedings, if concluded, would result in a complete acquittal.
US President Donald Trump wrote to Herzog, before Netanyahu made his request, urging the Israeli president to consider granting the prime minister a pardon.
Some Israeli opposition politicians have argued that any pardon should be conditional on Netanyahu retiring from politics and admitting guilt. Others have said the prime minister must first call national elections, which are due by October 2026.