The war in the former Soviet republic of Georgia has been a modest windfall for Israel in terms of aliyah.
In the wake of this month’s Russian invasion, hundreds of Georgian Jews are expected to immigrate to Israel in the coming months, said Alex Katz, director of Jewish Agency activities in the former Soviet Union.
In an interview from Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, Katz said that 75 Georgian Jews have already arrived in Israel and 100 Jews are waiting to leave.
Still another 200 Jews have expressed a desire to immigrate.
In his estimation, 500 to 600 Jews in this small Caucasus nation will leave in the next 12 months.
Many of the potential immigrants are young couples between the ages of 25 and 35. “It was a very nice surprise to us. Young couples want to immigrate. That’s for sure.”
Katz hastened to add that Georgia’s remaining 7,000 or so Jews are not in any danger.
“They are located in complicated places,” said Katz, a former Israeli army officer who has worked in the former Soviet Union and eastern Europe for the past two decades. “It’s not dangerous to be a Jew in Georgia, but Georgia is in a war zone.”
Since the eruption of the war, triggered by Georgia’s armed incursion into neighbouring South Ossetia, nearly all Georgian Jews living in outlying communities, such as Gori, have streamed into Tbilisi.
In Gori, 90 kilometres north of the capital, less than 50 Jews remain, compared to 230 during the pre-war period.
“Some people came out of Gori without anything,” he said.
Since the early 1970s, more than 20,000 Georgian Jews have made aliyah, some through youth programs, he said. “They are very well integrated into Israeli society.”
Katz said the Jewish Agency has operated in Georgia – the birthplace of former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin – since it achieved independence in 1991 after 69 years of Soviet domination.
