Safe Haven: Immigration to Israel at 5-Year High

BEN GURION AIRPORT, TEL AVIV -- Much of the world may see Israel as a dangerous place, but Jews escaping the world's current hot spots have brought the number of immigrants entering the country to a five-year high.

When 19-year-old Alexandrina Zholudev saw her family safely on the ground in Israel, she couldn't stop crying.

"When I saw them I cried a lot. My mom cried too. It's really a happy day, but we're crying a lot! Tears of joy!" she told CBN News.

Alexandrina immigrated to Israel last year when Ukraine was still relatively quiet. After she left, her family found itself in the middle of the fighting.

"Afterwards the war started. There was also a war in Israel. They were worrying about me and I worried about them. When I lost contact with them, I was very worried because I didn't know what happened there," she explained. "They called later and my dad told me that every day they were sleeping in the cellar. It's like a shelter in the house. They ate there. There was no water, no electricity. There was nothing in the house."

Her family joined the last group of immigrants arriving at Ben Gurion Airport before the Jewish New Year.

Nearly 25,000 Jewish people immigrated to Israel since the Rosh Hashanah holiday last year. Many of them came from war zones or places where anti-Semitism is on the rise.

"We have [a] big increase of Jews who are coming from France, more than 6,000," Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky told CBN News. "For the first time, the biggest number of Jews who come to Israel is from France. We have [a] big increase from Russia and Ukraine. We have increase from Brazil, from Argentina, from South Africa and even from United States of America."

Shanansky immigrated to Israel after spending years in a Soviet prison.

"Now for me it's especially exciting to see these families from Ukraine who are coming from the places where I grew [up] -- Donetsk, Lugansk and all these places," he continued. "These places are destroyed now by the war. Ukrainians and Russians are shooting from all types of weapons and Jews are [caught] in the middle."

Sharansky said Christians play a big role in helping immigrants connect with his agency.

When they do come, many arrive with little more than the clothes on their backs.

"They come here without anything, without -- maybe two suitcases. That's all because of bombing or artillery bombing. That's why they have anything for live and Israel is a country that can help them," she said.

Sharansky says these immigrants are fulfilling Jewish prayers and Bible prophecy in which God promises to bring His people back the land.

"Every [one] of these people, every of these Jews is closing the circle of thousands of years, at least 50 generations of his fathers and grandfathers and great grandfathers, for praying next year in Jerusalem. And here they are this day in Jerusalem," he said.

The Zholudev family will settle in Ranana and their daughter will soon join the IDF. Alexandrina's dad, Viatscheslav arrived on his 41 birthday and he says he has hope for the future -- that his dreams will be fulfilled.