And Now for Some GOOD NEWS!

Massive Western Aliyah This Week, Despite Month of War
13:34 Aug 09, '06 / 15 Av 5766
by Ezra HaLevi

Despite the two-front war, the thousands of missiles, and the evacuation of northern communities, more than 800 North American and British Jews are moving to Israel this week.

After a month of war, and even though they have had plenty of time to postpone or reschedule their Aliyah (immigration to Israel), four planeloads of Jews are scheduled to arrive in Ben Gurion airport in the coming week – the first on Thursday.

On Wednesday, August 16th – the one year anniversary of the forced eviction of the Jews of Gaza – three simultaneous flights will arrive. Embodying the Jewish prayer that the nation be gathered “from the four corners of the Earth,” the planes will depart from Canada, America and England – all arriving simultaneously in the Holy Land.

The August 16, 2006 influx will constitute the largest number of Jews in history making Aliyah to Israel from Western countries in a single day.

Overall this summer, 3,000 North American and British Jews are moving to Israel on specially chartered flights organized by the Nefesh b'Nefesh Aliyah assistance organization, in close cooperation with the Jewish Agency.

Greeting the arrivals Thursday will be Minister of Public Security and former Shabak Chief Avi Dichter (Kadima) and Minister of Immigrant Absorption Ze'ev Boim (Kadima). Opposition leader MK Binyamin Netanyahu greeted the last group of arrivals last month.

Visit the Nefesh b'Nefesh web site to learn about immigrating to Israel or sign up to greet the new immigrants upon their arrival.