August 18, 2008

By HAVIV RETTIG

A Georgian man in front of a destroyed building in the
village of Ruisi, near South Ossetia, Tuesday (Photo: AP )

Sixty-seven Georgian Jews have made aliya since the breakout of fighting between Georgia and Russia last week. While the fighting continues, more olim are expected as another 130 receive official aliya permits.

The figure is small compared to the size of the local community, estimated at some 4,000 in the Caucasian country, mostly in the capital Tbilisi. While hundreds of Jews were affected by the fighting, those in the calm areas of Georgia are likely to remain in a country that has historically known virtually no indigenous anti-Semitism.

According to the JDC, some 700 Jewish elderly and children were in the areas affected by the fighting and are among those receiving aid from the organization and Jewish communities abroad.

Almost all the estimated 200 Jews in Gori, which was overrun by Russian troops last Monday, have moved to Tblisi. The Jewish Agency has reported that it has failed to locate only one Jewish family in the town.

Meanwhile, the local agency emissary was on a visit to Batume, on Georgia's Black Sea coast, to determine the condition of the local Jewish community, which numbers some 230.