With antisemitism surging and the UK turning increasingly hostile toward Israel, a record wave of young British Jews from Bnei Akiva are answering the call of Zion and making Aliyah.
As antisemitism in the United Kingdom surges and London’s policies tilt ever more hostile toward Israel, a new generation of British Jews is responding in the most powerful way possible: by leaving Britain behind and coming home to Israel.
Since Israel celebrated its 76th Independence Day in May 2024, 35 members and alumni of the Bnei Akiva UK youth movement have either already made Aliyah or are set to do so in the coming months — including 19 this summer alone, marking a record-breaking figure in recent years.
Bnei Akiva UK — the country’s largest Religious Zionist youth movement — has long instilled a passion for Torah, Am Yisrael, and Eretz Yisrael. Its summer programs, attended this year by over 750 campers in both the UK and Israel, continue to fuel the movement’s mission: not merely to educate, but to inspire action.
For 23-year-old Jacob Seitler, the dream began in childhood. Recalling a Holocaust lesson at age 12, he asked himself: “What am I doing in England?” That question became the spark that would eventually bring him to Israel. “I don’t want to watch from the stands,” he said, “I want to play on the pitch of Jewish history.”
Josh Cohen, President of the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS), echoed this calling. “Israel is where I want to build my future. Here I can live the Judaism my ancestors prayed for. Aliyah is the natural continuation of the values I grew up with.”
For Michal Benjamin, a former national leader of Bnei Akiva UK, Aliyah was the culmination of a lifetime of Religious Zionist education. “For me, Israel is where Judaism exists in its most authentic form. Everything pointed me here. Now I want to contribute to the people of Israel — in the Land of Israel.”
World Bnei Akiva’s General Director, Tzachi Megnagy, celebrated this wave of Aliyah as the ultimate proof of the movement’s mission. “Each one of these young olim represents Zionist courage and Jewish hope. They are writing the next chapter of our people’s destiny.”
Outgoing Bnei Akiva emissaries, Rabbi Avichai Goodman and Rabbanit Aviya Goodman, placed the phenomenon in a spiritual-historic context. “In the Diaspora, we are like dry bones,” Rabbi Goodman declared. “In Israel, the bones are clothed with flesh and spirit once again.”
Amid rising hostility abroad, these young Jews are not fleeing — they are embracing their destiny. By choosing Aliyah, they are transforming personal identity into national strength, and turning centuries of exile into a living chapter of redemption.
