8,000 French Jews will have made Aliyah by the end of 2015, statistics from the Ministry of Absorption revealed Wednesday.
While that number is far below the estimated 15,000 French Jews Israel expected to make Aliyah at the end of the second year of its three-year French Aliyah program, the statistic still places French Jews at the forefront of Aliyah for 2015.
Polls in the French Jewish community in November indicated that approximately 80% are considering making aliyah to Israel. While not all will likely actually take the step, the number signifies a massive shift in consciousness and portends a huge increase in aliyah.
Ukrainian Jews are the second-biggest population to have made Aliyah in 2014, Haaretz reports, with some 7,000 Ukrainian Jews estimated to have moved to Israel in 2015; 6,000 made Aliyah in 2014.
Absorption Minister Ze'ev Elkin (Likud) told the daily that total Aliyah is estimated to be 30,000 in 2015 - "a record high for the past decade" that he emphasized "is a window of opportunity that should not go to waste.”