Jewish Agency slams ‘harmful’ false tally of non-Jewish immigrants

The Jewish Agency says it is “disturbed” after a report today included erroneous numbers showing most immigrants to Israel since 2012 were not Jews by Israeli standards.

The Interior Ministry has said it is rechecking the numbers after the figures were tallied inaccurately, showing some 86 percent of immigrants came to Israel under rules which allow non-Jews with a Jewish relative to immigrate.

“These articles are harmful and insulting to the hundreds of thousands of Jewish Olim who are living out the Zionist dream of building their future and their children’s future in Israel,” the agency says in a statement.

It says 97% of immigrants from France are Jewish, as opposed to the figures published earlier, which said only 27% were.

“To the best of our knowledge, the source of the information cited in the articles is not reputable and Jewish Agency data presents a different picture altogether,” it says.