Over 200 Americans move TO Israel since Hamas barbaric attack launched a war and wave of antisemitism

Since Hamas' barbaric attack on Israel on October 7, more than two hundred Americans have moved to Israel.

Aaron Gold, 26, was visiting friends in Israel when the war broke out. After returning to his home in Philadelphia, he felt a strong desire to return to the Holy Land despite the ongoing war.

“Hezbollah could attack now, they could attack in six months, they could attack in six years,” he said The times of Israel. “You can't plan it.”

Gold, a product manager at Deloitte, packed his bags and left the City of Brotherly Love for Israel. He said that “making aliyah” (moving to the land of Israel, one of the basic tenets of Zionism) has always been a dream.

It became official on November 16.

Gold is one of 218 Americans who as of Dec. 24 were among the 2,662 who moved to Israel after the Oct. 7 attack, when a Palestinian militant extremist group massacred more than 1,200 people and 240 hostages, Israeli officials said.

The highest figures come from Russia: 1,635; followed by the United States at 218, Ukraine at 128, 116 people from France and 106 from Belarus.

According to the ministry, the numbers have been smaller than average in recent years. During the same period last year, 16,400 new immigrants came to Israel, largely due to the war in Ukraine, and when political strife in Israel had already pushed immigration above usual levels, the news source said.

Yona and Mikhael Benichou planned to move to Israel from their native France once their eldest son went to college, but after October 7 they accelerated their plans to emigrate.

Yona told the news station that the events of October 7 were “the straw that broke the camel's back,” and on October 31 they arrived in their new country.

The term used for newcomers is called 'olim.'

She told of a disturbing event that took place in their hometown of Marseille before they left, when they were spat at by a group of rugby fans as they walked down the street.

Before the anti-Semitic attack, the family wore clothing that identified them as Jewish.

She told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency: 'I was completely shocked, I didn't know how to react. Many other people saw what happened, but no one tried to help us.”

Yona added, “The anti-Semites were always there. But after October 7, we felt that they have a platform to do what they want and that no one – and certainly not the French authorities – can stop them.”

The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews purchased flights for the Benichous family and donated $2,000 to furnish the family's new home in the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh.

Since October 7, the organization has helped 317 people 'make aliyah'.

The new immigrants are known as 'olim.' The term is used for the Jews who move to Israel despite the uncertainty that lies ahead.

The group's president, Yael Eckstein, told The Times of Israel that she expects more people to move to Israel once the war ends. There are also concerns about the spike in anti-Semitism.

She said she has seen an “increase in requests for information about the immigration process from countries where anti-Semitic incidents have increased.”

Another nonprofit organization called Nefesh B'Nefesh, also called Jewish Souls United, helps facilitate aliyah from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Since the war began, the organization has made aliyah possible for 384 people from the United States and Canada.

The group's vice president of communications, Yael Katsman, told JTA that those arriving in Israel had begun the process of relocation long before the Oct. 7 attack.

Eckstein and Katsman noted that there has been a “huge surge” in interest since the October 7 attacks — marking an “unprecedented increase” of more than 100% in aliyah applications compared to the same time last year, reported the news channel.

The dramatic increase, they say, is due in part to increased “commitment to building Israel” by Diaspora Judaism during “difficult historical events.”

The chairman of the Jewish Agency, which facilitates immigration, recently told an Israeli news channel that he expects 1 million new Jewish immigrants in the coming years — a number that would dramatically reshape the country of about 10 million.

The 218 Americans moving to Israel comes at a time when the country has seen a staggering increase in anti-Semitism.

Last month, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League said in an appearance on MSNBC that anti-Semitism has increased by as much as 388 percent since Hamas' barbaric attack on Israel that began on October 7.

Jonathan Greenblatt, who is also director of the advocacy group, told The Sunday Show that his group has seen attacks on everyday businesses run by Jewish people, in addition to attacks on individuals and places of worship.

“I'm not talking about stores that produce IDF [Israel Defense Forces] T-shirts; “I'm talking about a coffee shop on Long Island, an ice cream parlor in the Bay Area, a restaurant in Chicago,” he said.

'Anti-Semitism has intensified and increased. We've seen it normalized, both from the far right and the far left,” Greenblatt added.

Greenblatt also raised the issue of the spate of anti-Semitic incidents that have occurred on campuses of Ivy-League colleges, including Harvard and Cornell.

The ADL Center on Extremism said preliminary data shows 312 anti-Semitic incidents were reported in the U.S. between Oct. 7 and 23, including harassment, vandalism and assault.

About 190 of these were directly related to the war between Israel and Hamas.

Examples cited by ADL include alleged physical violence; violent online messages, especially on messaging platform Telegram; and meetings where 'ADL found explicit or strong implicit support for Hamas and/or violence against Jews in Israel.'