Since its creation. Israels mission has been to provide a place for the Ingathering of Jews from around the world. Whether it was Soviet refugees or the Ethiopian Jews. the State of Israel provided not just housing and assistance. but a home in a new society. For five decades. the United States has assisted in that effort. providing bilateral assistance as well as important advocacy work on behalf of Soviet refuseniks who were literally held hostage by the capricious and inhumane immigration practices of the former Soviet Union. It was the collapse of the Soviet Union and the opening of gates that has brought Israel to the brink of fulfilling its historic mission. The trickle of Soviet Jews coming to Israel in the early 1980s has turned Into a flood. with nearly 1 million Soviet Jews expected to arrive over the next 5 years. The task of absorbing these refugees falls to Israel. The magnitude of the job is stunning. To understand It better. we must imagine a country the size of the United States absorbing an entire nation the size of France.
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immigration refugees