Nearly 3 million people have immigrated to Israel since the country's founding in 1948, roughly one third of which immigrated during the 1990s. Some 300 people immigrated from India in 2006 - a fivefold increase from 2005.

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, since 2002 - the year in which the major wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union came to an end - there has been a consistent downward trend in immigration. In 2006, immigration was down to 1980s levels, during which time 9,000-24,000 people immigrated annually.

In 2006, only 2.7 people immigrated for every 1,000 veteran residents. In 1990-91, at the height of immigration from the former Soviet Union, that figure stood at an average of 35 per 1,000, and from 1990-2001, it averaged 17 per 1,000. Starting in 2003, that figure fell to below 3.8 per 1,000 - also the rate during 1980-89, the period of lowest immigration in Israel's history.

The Jewish Agency announced earlier this year that it was planning to close one of its most historically important branches, the Immigration and Absorption Department, as part of a radical restructuring plan.

The Agency has been taking punches from every direction in recent years; politically, organizationally and [in terms of] its image," a senior Agency official said. Donations made by individuals in the U.S. Jewish community, which account for two-thirds of the Agency's annual budget, have been in steady decline in recent years.

Many philanthropists have opted to give their money to private groups like Taglit-Birthright Israel, which organizes free tours of Israel for Jewish young adults, or Nefesh B'Nefesh, which focuses solely on "revitalizing" immigration.

Nefesh B'Nefesh claims that its waiting list has 20,000 Jews who want to move to Israel.