1995 – The idea and realization of the Center for International Migration and Integration
The large waves of immigrants arriving in Israel in the 1990s, mainly from the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia, propelled Israel to develop and implement policy on immigration and immigrant - integration. Thus was born the idea of creating an NGO that would share information about aliyah, migration, and integration and would collaborate with countries and organizations with a shared interest. The initiative was supported by senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Geneva who were working with international organizations involved in migration, such as the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nationals High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Then-director general of the Department for Aliyah and Absorption at the Jewish Agency, Arnon Mantver, initiated the idea of such an organization and drafted a proposal to set up a public agency that would advance work in this field.
In 1995, upon his appointment as executive director of JDC-Israel, Mantver submitted the proposal to the executive vice-president of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (AJJDC), Michael Schneider, who gave his approval. The Center for International Migration and Integration was established in 1998.