2004 immigration figures are lowerst since 1989

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srael absorbed 21,000 new immigrants in 2004, the lowest number since 1989, according to figures published by the Central Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday.

According to the figures, the number of immigrants who arrived in Israel the previous year was 10 percent higher. The 2004 figures are similar to numbers from the 80s, when the annual figures fluctuated between 9,000 and 20,000 new immigrants a year.

Haaretz

[aden_nak]

1. Maybe that's Bush's plan. To make America suck so bad, no one comes here.

[RubyDuby in GA]

3. That's what I was thinking

Seriously, would you want to come to this shithole country that spits in your face and tramples your hopes and freedoms (and that's for its legal citizens).

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2. Middle East, Immigration to Israel drops as Jews choose Germany

Different take, more details.

The Jewish Agency, the quasi-governmental agency that deals with immigration, said 22,134 Jews moved to Israel in 2004 � down from 24,434 the previous year.

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Israel has pressed Germany to cancel its absorption benefits to help encourage the remaining 800,000 Jews in former Soviet lands to move to Israel, he said.

Since the collapse of Communism 15 years ago, more than one million Jews from the former Soviet Union have immigrated to Israel. Despite the overall slowdown last year, immigration increased from North America by 11 per cent, western Europe by 13 per cent, and Ethiopia by 22 per cent, the agency said.

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"We are moving towards emphasising immigration by choice,� Meridor told a news conference. �There are fewer countries in which Jews are forced to flee, to our delight, and immigration is more and more by choice."

http://www.keralanext.com/news/index.asp?id=107822&pg=1

[Coastie for Truth]

4. Sephardi Techies Going To India?

I heard this from an Israeli colleague - confirmed by my "Peace Now" cousin - Sepahrdi techies have "discovered" India. As the B'Nai Yisrael leave Cochin, the techies enter Bangalore.

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5. I had not heard that, but it would not be surprising.

Like the brain drain in Iraq right now, but perhaps not as bad.