A Related Video You May Like:
Of last year’s 6,917 immigrants, around one-fourth of the total number and over 2,000 more than in 2016, settled in the Negev and Galilee regions, which are both regions that the ministry has been focusing on bringing immigrants into.Landver also emphasized that the work of the ministry and the committee needs to focus on helping new immigrants to Israel feel welcomed and accepted when they arrive.“I’ve said more than once,” she said, “in this committee... [that] first of all, you need to prepare the immigrant before he comes to the country... [to prepare him for] where he’ll arrive, who will receive him, who is helping him, what is the absorption process.”Towards the end of her talk, Landver briefly mentioned the Diplomat Hotel situation, saying that the ministry has held discussions with the prime minister and other parties but has yet to reach a definitive solution. In 2014, the United States embassy in Israel bought the hotel, which houses many Russian immigrants; they may lose their housing if a solution is not found by 2020.Alex Kushnir, the ministry’s director- general, gave a presentation on the efforts of the ministry to integrate new immigrants, placing emphasis on the “digital revolution” surrounding immigration procedures, where new immigrants can communicate over the Internet with ministry representatives and can use a multilingual online portal to track their immigration progress and check up on the next steps.The website was presented briefly during the meeting, and appeared to still be under construction; when the site’s language was switched to Russian, some of the section headings on the webpage came up in English.Kushnir’s presentation also revealed that 10,624 immigrants to Israel in 2017, and 2,101 returning citizens, were between the ages of 18 and 35.