A new minister - a new spirit:
Minister of Absorption Ofir Sofer took off this morning (Thursday) for his first business trip, when the country he is visiting is France.
Those around him say that the choice of a Western country is not accidental and expresses a new order of priorities in the field of absorption: strengthening efforts to bring immigrants from the West and not only from the countries of the former Soviet Union.
According to the insiders, the choice of France as the first destination reflects its position in Sofer's eyes as "first among equals".
Sofer will meet with the leaders of the Jewish community in France in the coming days and present to them the actions his office will take to facilitate the absorption of Jews from France in Israel.
The new minister believes that the policies adopted by his predecessors from Israel Beytinu, who did not take significant actions to increase Aliya from France after the severe attacks there in the previous decade, were a historical miss.
A new direction for the immigration policy, Minister of Absorption, MK Ofir Sofer (archive), photo: Oren Ben Hakon
During Sofer's visit, he will meet all the parties in France dealing with immigration to Israel, such as the representatives of the agency and the Israeli House, a group of French Jews interested in her, the president of the general consistory, Mr. Joel Margie, and more.
He will also lay a wreath at the "Super Kosher" memorial in Paris - an attack on a Jewish supermarket in 2015 in which four people were murdered.
Sofer's choice to open his term with a visit to France reflects his intention to divert the state's efforts to bring immigrants to Israel, not only from Russian-speaking countries, such as Ukraine and Russia, but from Western countries, including the US. These days, he and his people are still formulating their work plans for the coming years.
Do not give up on the East
Shifting the emphasis to the West will be a significant change from the policies adopted by most Ministers of Absorption in recent decades.
In recent years, the Ministry was led by Minister Pnina Tamno Shata (state camp) who emphasized the immigration from Ethiopia.
Due to the coalition's commitment to Israel Beytenu, which was a partner in the previous government, it was assumed that Eta could not moderate the rate of non-Jewish immigration to Israel.
This increase resulted from the actions of the Nativ agency, which was controlled by Lieberman, and was solely responsible for immigration from Russian-speaking countries.
At the same time as the efforts in the French arena, Sofer says in closed conversations that he is committed to the continuation of immigration from Ukraine and Russia.
Those around him note that when the war in Ukraine broke out, he went to the war zone as a member of the Knesset, to closely examine the government's actions to bring immigrants from these areas.
However, after many years of emphasizing the former Soviet Union, he intends, as stated, to shift the emphasis to the West.
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