The ongoing unrest in Ukraine is encouraging more Ukrainian Jews to seek a new home in Israel. According to the Jewish Agency, immigration to Israel from Ukraine spiked 142% in the early months of 2014.

The number of Jews emigrating to Israel from increasingly volatile Ukraine has jumped by 142 percent this year so far, compared to 2013, the Jewish Agency said Sunday.

A total of 762 Jews from Ukraine arrived in Israel in the first four months of the year, compared to 315 in the first quarter of 2013, a spokesman for the quasi-government agency said.

The Jewish community of Odessa is particularly concerned by the violence. The Jerusalem Post reported:

Odessa’s Jews are prepared to evacuate should the violence in the western Ukrainian city get significantly worse, several community leaders told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday. …

While Jewish community leaders are unanimous in asserting that the violence is unconnected to the Jewish community and that they do not feel specially targeted, they agreed that, should the situation deteriorate, it would be easy for the spillover to affect their constituents.

The paper notes that there are currently 30,000 Jews living in Odessa. Prior to World War II, Jews made up 40% of the city’s population.

The increasing immigration of French and Ukrainian Jews to Israel prompted Commenatary‘s Seth Mandel to observe, ” Not only do Jews feel safer in Israel than in most places in the world, but Jews feel safer all around the world simply because of Israel.”

[Photo: Senia L / Flickr ]