Aliyah and Integration Minister Ofer Sofer traveled to France this week as part of efforts to encourage immigration to Israel.
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Sofer has set out to restructure Israel's aliyah mechanism, with officials saying his visit to France was not accidental and signals a change in the state's immigration priorities.
They said the minister believes that his predecessors missed out on a great opportunity by not encouraging aliyah from France in the past decade, especially as the country experienced an increase in terror and antisemitic attacks.
As such, Sofer's visit to France reflects his intention to branch out immigration efforts to Western countries as well, including the United States – rather than solely focusing on the former Soviet Union.
The change will significantly alter Israel's current aliyah policy, which has until now focused on the USSR as well as Ethiopia, especially under previous Aliyah and Integration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata, who is of Ethiopian origin.
In closed talks, however, Sofer is said to have stressed that he remains committed to immigration from Ukraine and Russia and even visited the war region at the outbreak of the war to examine efforts to boost aliyah.
The subject of immigration has garnered a lot of attention in Israel lately, with members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government seeking to limit it to individuals with a Jewish parent, rather than those with a Jewish grandparent.
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