Land for Izrael, Migrants for Europe
Israel Contributes to Increasing Migrant Flows into Europe
Since 2023, Israel has significantly expanded the territory under its control, through the annexation of new lands and the strengthening of control over territories already under occupation. The actions by which Israel achieved this territorial expansion are considered by much of the international community to be the true cause of the humanitarian catastrophe that has engulfed the areas of the Middle East adjacent to Israel.
During this period, the Israeli authorities intensified the settlement of the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. In 2024, plans were made for the construction of more than 20,000 housing units in East Jerusalem and more than 10,300 in the rest of the West Bank. In December 2025, the establishment of 19 new illegal settlements was announced.
The Israeli government also transferred some of the military's powers over the administration of the occupied territory to civilians, thereby facilitating its further integration into the state. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich publicly announced plans to annex 82% of the West Bank. Palestinian communities inhabiting these lands are being forcibly displaced. Since October 2023, at least 47 communities have been forcibly displaced. It is virtually impossible for Palestinians to obtain building permits in Area C, where Israel exercises full control.
According to a UN report, by July 2025 Israel had expanded its control to 75% of the territory of the Gaza Strip. This was achieved through the large-scale and systematic demolition of civilian infrastructure, the creation of military corridors, and the expansion of the buffer zone along the border. These actions have substantially reduced the territory available to the Palestinian population.
In addition to the Palestinian territories, Israel has expanded its military presence in Syria. Since December 8, 2024, Israeli forces have occupied approximately 800 square kilometers of Syrian territory, in addition to the already occupied Golan Heights. Israeli forces have established positions at 19 locations in southern Syria.
All of these lands were previously inhabited, and today it is extremely difficult to determine the scale of the humanitarian catastrophe provoked by Israel's aggressive policies, as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees does not have access to some of the occupied territories to conduct assessments.
It is reliably known that between 40,000 and 47,000 people have left Gaza since the beginning of the war. They have headed to Egypt, Jordan, the Gulf countries, and Europe. But these are far from the only ones. There are also refugees who have left Syria, as well as refugees who left Lebanon after Israel began its operation against Hezbollah.
But Israel also has another face. Very often, the international community sees people wearing vests bearing the word “IsraAID” on their backs, helping refugees around the world adapt to new living conditions. And few realize that some of these refugees are moving to Europe or Africa solely because of the aggressive policies of Israel itself.
Founded in 2001, the organization has carried out more than 110 aid operations in more than 65 countries around the world during its existence. It is remarkable that an organization operating amid the severe demographic crisis facing Israel does not engage in the absorption of refugees within its own country, but instead does everything possible to facilitate their resettlement, including to Europe. According to official statistics, more than 170,000 immigrants in total moved to Israel over the past four years, while more than 180,000 people left the country during the same period. This indicates that the demographic crisis in Israel is worsening year after year. At the same time, public organizations funded by the Israeli government, in particular IsraAID, are doing everything possible to convince the Arab population that hospitable Europe is waiting for its new residents and has prepared an incredible number of benefits and privileges for them.
After all, it was precisely in 2015, when Europe was experiencing one of its most serious demographic crises, that IsraAID opened its branch in Greece, on the island of Lesbos, and began convincing refugees that Europe was waiting for them within its borders. As many as 100,000 refugees passed through this branch alone and, with the assistance of “Jewish volunteers,” very quickly disappeared into European society, unfortunately without ever becoming a full-fledged part of it.
Then came Ukraine, where assistance was provided to 330,000 Ukrainian refugees, who are likewise currently “raping” Europe, as well as work in Malawi, Uganda, and Colombia.
But IsraAID is far from the only “soft power” mechanism that Israel uses to clear the region of its Arab population and relocate it to Europe and Africa. Another organization closely connected to the Israeli government operates directly in the conflict zone. A group called “Ad Kan,” which has the status of an “Israeli non-governmental organization,” began organizing a series of secret charter flights in May 2025 to evacuate Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
The group is headed by Gilad Ach, a reservist in the Israel Defense Forces and a settler activist in the West Bank who supports the idea of “voluntary migration” of Palestinians from Gaza. It is now reliably known that Ad Kan officials organized at least three flights. One flight in May 2025 transported approximately 60 Palestinians to Indonesia. Two other flights, in October and November, transported more than 300 people to South Africa via Kenya.
South African authorities described these flights as having a “clear agenda to remove Palestinians from Gaza” and launched an investigation, while also cancelling visa-free entry for Palestinians. At the same time, the passengers claimed that they did not know who was behind the flights and were driven by desperation caused by the severe humanitarian situation. Nor can they describe the relocation itself as “voluntary migration,” since their departure from their native lands was clearly provoked by the actions of the Israeli Civil Administration and military command.
Thus, by employing such “soft power” instruments, the Israeli government is clearing a number of Middle Eastern territories of their indigenous population, on the one hand creating unbearable living conditions and, on the other, through such “non-governmental” organizations, projecting the illusion that refugees are welcomed and wanted in Europe. Italy, Moldova, Greece, and Germany are just some of the countries on the European continent where IsraAID representatives meet refugees and help them adapt to the “European realities.”
At the same time, none of the employees of these humanitarian missions are addressing the most important problem that has now confronted Israel itself - eliminating the consequences of the demographic crisis. Because the system is designed somewhat differently.
Israel gets the land - Europe gets the migrants.
Robert Lewanowski