100 Australian doctors prepare to immigrate to Israel
Over one hundred Australian doctors were gathering this week in both Melbourne and Sydney as part of a major immigration fair for medical professionals planning on moving to Israel following the war against Hamas in Gaza.
Participants at an aliya fair in Melbourne, Australia which included a focus on medical professionals. Credit: Scott Ehler, October 26, 2025.
The event comes amid a sharp rise in antisemitism around the world following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel. In Australia, currently ruled by a strongly anti-Israel government, a synagogue and a Jewish daycare centre were firebombed, and Jewish-owned properties and cars have been vandalised.
The attacks have shaken the 110,000-strong Jewish community in Australia, which is strongly Zionist, in no small part because Australia long served as the second largest refuge for Holocaust survivors after Israel.
“The reality is that if you would have run this conference before Oct. 7 you would have at 10% of what you have now,” said Dr. Jonathan Levy, 50, a GP who relocated to Australia from the United Kingdom over two decades ago and who now intends to move to Israel with his four children. “There has always been a strong pull factor to Israel, but now there is a very strong push factor that didn’t used to exist,” he added.
“Oct. 7 cemented and reinforced why we want to come to Israel,” said an Australian GP who married an American-Israeli he had met in Israel three years ago when taking some time off, afterwards returning to Australia to finish his medical training. “The comfort level of life here went away after Oct. 7,” he said.
The MedEx event, which seeks to address Israel’s critical shortage of physicians, was organised by the nonprofit Nefesh B’Nefesh in partnership with Israel’s ministries of aliyah and integration, health, and the Negev and Galilee, along with the quasi-governmental Jewish Agency for Israel.
“You can feel the vibrant and Zionist community in the air,” Aliya and Integration Minister Ofir Sofer told JNS Sunday at the fair in Melbourne. “I came to strengthen, and I came away strengthened.”
Nearly 200 Australians immigrated to Israel last year, according to Aliya and Integration Ministry figures.
The MedEx program, which was launched two years ago, focuses on recruiting medical professionals and aims to bring 2,000 doctors to Israel from around the world over five years, said Ronen Fuxman, director of the program.
Last year, some 520 doctors came to Israel from around the world through the program, primarily from Russia, Ukraine, the United States, Canada and France.
The 100 medical professionals attending the inaugural Australian event this week specialise in 22 fields of medicine and are being recruited by some 16 medical institutions in Israel.
“We were always planning to make aliyah to Israel, it was always the pull,” said a 35-year-old Australian general pediatrician who is planning the move with her husband and four kids.
The doctor, who already did a rotation in the emergency room at Jerusalem’s Sha’are Zedek Medical Centre when in medical school and worked at Magen David Adom, praised the streamlined process offered by the program, and is following in the footsteps of her doctor sister, who moved to Israel eight years ago.
“The physicians we met in Australia are not only exceptional professionals but also deeply motivated by a sense of purpose and connection to Israel,” said Tony Gelbart, co-founder and chairman of Nefesh B’Nefesh. “Their contributions will make a meaningful difference to healthcare in Israel.”
“Bringing Jewish doctors to Israel is a profound expression of modern Zionism,” said JA chairman Doron Almog. “This initiative is a living testament to mutual solidarity and the deep connection between Israel and world Jewry.”
