(JNS.org) Ukrainian Jewish immigration to Israel has risen 70 percent in 2014 amid the recent political upheaval in that country. According to the Jewish Agency for Israel, 375 new immigrants from Ukraine arrived in the first three months of 2014, compared to 221 in the same period in 2013. More than 100 new immigrants have come from Odessa alone, the Ukrainian Black Sea city where nearly 30,000 Jews live and can move to Israel under the Law of Return.

French-Jewish aliyah also rose sharply in the first few months of 2014. According to figures released by the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI), 854 new immigrants arrived in Israel from France in January and February 2014, up from 274 during the same time period last year. JAFI attributed the 312-percent increase to its increased efforts to strengthen relations with the French-Jewish community, and to growing anti-Semitism in France as well as a worsening economic situation in the country. In 2013, 3,280 new French immigrants arrived in Israel, a 70-percent increase from 1,917 in 2012. There are about 700,000 French Jews that qualify for citizenship under Israel’s Law of Return.