Twelve Jews from Kyrgyzstan arrived in Israel today in an operation by the Jewish Agency to rescue Jews from the country stricken by ethnic violence. The 12 new immigrants, all extended family members, were brought from Bishkek, the capital, where almost all of the 1,200 Jews in Kyrgyzstan live today.

At a special early evening reception on Mount Scopus, the Jewish Agency Assembly welcomed the newcomers from Kyrgyzstan along with some of the nearly 700 new immigrants who arrived in Israel over the last two days on some 20 flights from all across the former Soviet Union, France and Belgium.

image courtesy Jewish Agency for Israel