The truth probably lies somewhere right in the middle.

NOT a Western Country before the Russians arrived, and is CERTAINLY NOT one now. Russians added one more thing not listed. Huge advances in the Protekzia Quotient, making it even harder for Anglos to thrive, here.

The writer forgot to add that we now have the Russian mafia in Israel.

the west for new immigrants.We could have checked the religion of each immigrant from the west. But then again we are number two on the vodka belt, have neo nazis beating up Jews and defacing synagogues, a large non Jewish population, the highest percentage of prostitutes in the world, a new mafia, stores selling pork, the sylvester and x-mas trees and the list goes on. These are not the Jews that came in the 70s and early 80s. I served in the reserves with those Jews. Now the young women from the f.s.u. get married early to avoid the I.D.F. or marry and convert to islam. These are not the Jews that left the ukraine and russia like my family did in the early part of the last century.

THE REST OF THE RUSSIAN JEWS ARE SOON COMING HOME ALSO. AFTER THE NOW COMING MIDDLE EAST WAR. Arn.

I wonder what makes you more Jewish than those who came in the 70's, 80's and 90's? Your first and last name? Or the fact that the Jewishness of the new olim from former Soviet Union was ripped from them by their government? Or, somehow, if they don't keep kosher - they are lesser Jews thank you are? Your kindness and ahavas Israel is in every word of yours. Shame.

based on what you say, you definitely not belong to hi-tech, academia and hardly have any idea of modern IDF. I don't think that "western" Jason is a big gift for Israel either. I don't believe you have any facts and statistics regarding conversion to Islam, but you talk as obscurantist and have a Taliban psychology.

probably you was sooooooooooooooo happy with Haredi, Shas, Histadrut, hevrat Kadisha, Shuk ha-carmel etc. etc. mafias before.

Until the distribution of wealth is more fairly distributed in Israel, don't expect Jews to stay in that poor situation. They are going to leave the country and seek a better life elsewhere.

does not mean that everyone else does too. I am from Canada and doing quite well and my wife and all of her family are Ukranian immigrants and all are very successful.

Ok, true, Americans were almost the only ones with work ethics here, and along came the Russians, ambitious and hard working. Both groups did a lot for Israel, and I am quite glad Russians saved us from the Shas swamp!

Russian Jewish emigres have also been heavily involved in entrepreneurship, attracting investment and economic growth here in the US, and in Europe. Obviously Zeira's "IDF spending patterns" can not also explain these success impacts. I think Prof. Zeira needs to compare the impact of Russian Jews in Israel and other countries before concluding that Israel would have "by coincidence" experienced all this growth anyway. The ruinous strangle-hold that Labor/Mapam/Mapai crackpot socialism had on Israel's economic growth before the 1980's has also greatly dwindled since then - due in part to all the right-leaning Russian immigrant voters who have no use for more of the disasterous crackpot socialism they left behind in Russia. Factor this data in, Professor, and your conclusion of minimal Russian impact may look a little different, eh?

missiles blowing up scuds and katyushas, I'm very thankful that Jews from (one of) the place(s) of my own ancestry made it home. In addition, they are part of the general victory of the State of Israel. For those who don't realize it, if you took, by a great miracle, 1/3 of the American Jews (hopefully in a peaceful situation), you'd see some interesting customs/mores coming along too. Like a relative lack of judgmentalism. And yes, there would indeed have to be a Chinese restaurant on EVERY (commercial) BLOCK. Would they be kosher? Maybe not at first, but eventually, yes.

came from the Russian Jewish, Ukrainian Jewish, Polish Jewish, etc roots. I am also a Russian Jew and we left the USSR in the 70s. It is also true that the Jews who came to Israel in the 90s are highly assimilated and russified Jews. Some Jewish communities in Russia never intermarried or socially mixed with anyone but Jewish. 20 years later the picture became very different., A good number of the Russian Jews acquired the Russian cultural traits. It is a tough situation but hopefully Israel will give them what the Soviet regime has robbed of, mainly the sense of belonging to Judaism and the Jewish people.

The jews helped make russia a superpower but anti zionism and antijudaism harms russia.

If Israel's very existence is threatened (Even one of today's Ynet headlines reads: Khameini: "Israel Will Be Eliminated") - does that not threaten the existence of the so-called "Russian" mafia entity existing in Israel as well? Why don't they do something useful with their corruption and "eliminate" the khameinis and the ahmadinejaaads (for a change) ?????? What are they waiting for????

Of the over 1 million immigrants from the Soviet Union that came to Israel from 1989, 1/3 is not Jewish according to the Jewish Agency (Sochnut) and the Central Bureau of Statistics (Israel).

a massive influx of bodies, an educated work force and industrious people have helped make the nation stronger, more vibrant, added a deeper cultural dimension with a large effect on politics and add much to the economy and life of the nation. The Russian Israelis increase economic and diplomatic connections with FSU-Russia

for the Jews to become again like Avraham avinu and at least try to make converts of the non-Jewish residents of Yisrael, those who lawfully came under the law of return. What are you afraid of? That your exclusive club will have it's DNA corrupted. To help make Yisrael Torah observant will of course thwart the plans of the likes of Charles and Mike and Keren, but it seems like a small price to pay for world peace.

Russian immigrants: They are committed members of the IDF; they make hard, tough soldiers and excellent officers. They are hardworking and, as a result, now own a good deal of property including their own homes. They did this by pooling resources. Many small businesses are owned by Russian Jews. The professional classes, especially engineers, computer technicians and systems analysts, nurses and physicians, are heavily populated by Russian Jews and their progeny. They also tend to be the most ambitious and best students at our Ulpans. Russians emigrants have great respect for physical health and you can easily meet them in any training facility. They have also become a force to be reckoned with in Israeli politics as can be seen by the popularity of Yisrael Beiteinu which has now embraced Jews of other ethnic roots. I, myself, am a proud member of the party. Yes, it's true that there was/is a criminal element amongst the population of Russian Jews (socalled "Russian Mafia") but is this in any way comparable to all the Sephardic organized crime families or the white collar criminal activities of the original Ashkenazim? Russian Jews have felt the discrimination cast against them. Many Russian youngsters have felt alienated from Israeli society because of the Orthodox/Charedim hegemony re identifying who is, and who is not, a Jewish citizen, leaving many in their generation feeling cast out. We could, and should have done a better job in integrating them. All in all, we have benefitted mightily by the population explosion of so many post-communist Russian immigrants in spite of the unforgivingness of many Sabras.

Who knows maybe you will join them or are the material trappings of LA greater than living in the Jewish homeland. The state of Israel was created and has survied by the hard working people and courageous men and women of the IDF not traitor jews who desert Israel to live in LA.

Russian aliyah was a more positive than negative. There are problems with some families parking their elderly here then moving to the US where they can make more money. Part if not most of that is the fault of our economic system which in no small measure encourages tax evasion.

Unfortunately, a majority of the Russians that came to Israel were not Jewish.

yeah, alperon, abergil, domrani and abutbul are typical russian family names

From 1970 to 2010 more than one miliion "Russians" have made aliya. 70% are Jewish and 30% are not. Of the 30% who are not , one third have a Jewish father.

but what about the rest of the Jews? Boy, are we selfish! That's the whole problem, right there. Not enough love in Israel between Jews.