86 | SEPTEMBER 26 • 2019 

News from Israel

Eretz

New immigrants from North America arrive on a special “Aliyah Flight” 
with Nefesh B’
Nefesh at Ben Gurion International Airport last month.

During the first seven 
months of 2019, 20,506 new 
immigrants arrived in Israel, 
according to figures released 
by the Central Bureau of 
Statistics, reports the Globes 
business news outlet.
The figure marks a 21 per-
cent increase over the 15,965 
immigrants who came to 
Israel during the same period 
in 2018, says the report.
The newcomers are said to 
include the returning chil-
dren of Israeli citizens living 
abroad who already have 
Israeli citizenship.
Israel’
s population is also 
being boosted by a decrease 
in emigration, according 
to the Central Bureau 
of Statistics. The annual 
emigration rate in 2017, 
the number of Israelis not 
returning from abroad for 

more than a year, fell to 
14,300, the smallest number 
since 2010, says the Globes 
report.
The increased level of 
immigration is due largely 
to a surge in the number of 
immigrants from Russia, a 
trend which began in 2018.
According to the Jewish 
Agency, there was a 45 per-
cent increase in immigration 
from Russia in 2018, even 
as immigration from other 
Eastern European countries 
like Ukraine declined in 
2018, said the news website.
Last month, Nefesh 
B’
Nefesh, an NGO working 
to facilitate immigration 
from North America to 
Israel, brought its 60,000th 
immigrant to Israel. 

First published on UnitedwithIsrael.

org.

Immigration to Israel Rises 21 Percent This Year

Intel’
s new smart building in Petah Tikvah

INTEL

NEFESH B’
NEFESH

Intel has unveiled its new 
development center in Petah 
Tikvah, which it considers to 
be the “smartest building in 
the world.”
The 800,000-square-foot 
building will host 2,000 
employees from the former 
Petah Tikvah and Ra’
anana 
campuses.
Intel has invested $180 
million into the new cam-
pus that has approximately 
14,000 sensors installed 
that facilitate smart lighting 
and temperature, doubling 
the standard number for 
a building of its size. The 
lighting and window shading 
will automatically change 
according to the natural light 

throughout the day.
Elevators in the building 
use smart algorithms to learn 
the travel patterns of elevator 
users to expect where they 
are likely to be at any given 
time, shortening waiting 
times.
The building boasts 
extremely high energy effi-
ciency, fairing 40 percent 
better than the industry’
s 
standard. Its water system 
uses 75 percent less water 
than other buildings, and 95 
percent of the building waste 
created during construction 
was recycled.

First published on UnitedwithIsrael.

org.

Intel Unveils ‘
Smartest Building in the World’
 

The percentage of employees 
in Israel’
s hi-tech industry 
rose to 8.7 percent by end of 
2018, bringing the number of 
hi-tech positions (not includ-
ing the communications sec-
tor) to more than 307,000 by 
mid-2019.
Israel experienced a steep 
rise in employment of close 
to 19,000 salaried employees 
during 2018 in the hi-tech 

sector, despite a decline of 
3,000 employees in the phar-
maceutical sector following 
the crisis at the end of the year 
at pharmaceutical company 
Teva, when thousands were 
laid off.
The software sector is 
responsible for a significant 
part of the increase — some 
14,000 employees joined this 
field at startups, larger compa-

nies and R&D centers.
Employment in the hi-tech 
sector is characterized by high 
productivity and high wages, 
making it critical for Israel 
to increase the percentage of 
those employed in the hi-tech 
sector out of the total number 
of employees throughout the 
economy.
 “In a global economy char-
acterized by technological 

innovation, Israel is a key 
player,” Israeli Minister of 
Economy and Industry Eli 
Cohen said.
“This is evident in the number 
of startups in Israel and in 
the number of leading multi-
nationals operating here,” he 
added. 

 First published on worldisraelnews.

com.

Israeli High-Tech Jobs Surpass 300,000, Rise to 8.7 Percent