The number of Iranians applying to immigrate to Israel has increased with the spread of the coronavirus.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry has reported a “significant increase in the number of immigration applications from Iranians in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.” According to the report, the Iranians who have requested assistance from Israel are not just Jews.

As the coronavirus spreads in Iran, the number of Iranians applying to immigrate to Israel has increased.

The "Swiss Jews" website (Tachles) wrote on Thursday, May 21, quoting the Israeli Foreign Ministry, that so far "thousands of Iranians have requested Israel to seek asylum in this country or to immigrate to Israel."

According to this report, Iranians applying to immigrate to Israel are "not just Jewish Iranians," but also Iranians who have requested help from Israel for medical reasons, unemployment, and safety.

The Israeli newspaper "Jerusalem Post" also wrote in a report on Wednesday, May 20, that the number of Iranians applying to immigrate to Israel has increased "significantly," especially with the outbreak of the coronavirus.

The report cites a statement from the Israeli Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem that "the number of Iranians requesting assistance from within Iran or from around the world has increased significantly in recent months."

“Thousands of people want to come to Israel, whether for medical reasons or to immigrate to the Jewish state,” Yeftah Kuriel, head of the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s digital diplomacy department, told The Jerusalem Post. “Many of the messages are serious requests for asylum,” he explained.

Kuriel also noted: "Some of the applicants are people who were forced to flee and are currently refugees in other countries, or people who expressed solidarity with Israel and are now forced to flee."

According to the Israeli politician, the Iranians who have requested assistance from the country are “not just Iranian Jews who can apply for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return,” but also include many Iranians in Iran or abroad who “support Israel, oppose the (Iranian) regime, and want a different future in relations between the two countries.”

Large number of Iranian users

Kuril points to one message he received, from a 31-year-old man who says he was forced to flee Iran because of “the regime’s corruption.” He wrote: “I applied for asylum in Turkey, and I also applied for it for my wife and my four-year-old daughter. We are not in a good situation, no one is helping us. We are alone and our lives are in danger.”

According to the Israeli diplomat, before the spread of the coronavirus and COVID-19, thousands of Iranians had been asking Israel for help through social media accounts, but the number of requests has increased significantly since the outbreak of the coronavirus. “I try to respond as much as I can … but we really don’t have the capacity to help them. I try to respond to them and wish them success,” he said.

According to Kuriel, the Israeli Foreign Ministry's Persian accounts are among the most successful online accounts, with a higher level of engagement than some of the ministry's English channels, and are followed by 200,000 people on Twitter and 500,000 on Instagram.

Source: DW