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Ukrainian Jews Continue to Immigrate to Israel But No 'Big Exodus' Expected

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With well over a hundred thousand Russian troops on its border, Ukrainians are bracing for invasion.  Estimates vary, but at least seventy thousand and as many as 200,000 Jews live within Ukraine.

And while Ukrainian Jews are continuing to immigrate to Israel, no "big Exodus" is expected, said Yael Eckstein, President and CEO of The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ).

IFCJ has been working for decades to help Jewish people return to the Land of Israel as is written in the Bible.

Eckstein recently returned from a visit to the Ukraine. CBN News spoke with Eckstein about the situation of the Jewish community in the Ukraine during this cold winter and these uncertain times. She said her organization continues to work with needy Jewish people despite the circumstances.

“We continue during times of peace, during times of war and we're not affected by nor involved in any of the politics around it. We have one objective and that is to provide food and clothing and heat and medicine to the least of these,” Eckstein told CBN News.

Eckstein said heating costs are the biggest problem right now, having increased by some 800 percent in the last year.

According to Eckstein the Jewish community is "thriving" in Ukraine and there won't likely be a mass exodus but immigration to Israel is continuing as people want to come.

 

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About The Author

Julie Stahl
Julie
Stahl

Julie Stahl is a correspondent for CBN News in the Middle East. A Hebrew speaker, she has been covering news in Israel fulltime for more than 20 years. Julie’s life as a journalist has been intertwined with CBN – first as a graduate student in Journalism; then as a journalist with Middle East Television (METV) when it was owned by CBN from 1989-91; and now with the Middle East Bureau of CBN News in Jerusalem since 2009. As a correspondent for CBN News, Julie has covered Israel’s wars with Gaza, rocket attacks on Israeli communities, stories on the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria and