Prime Minister Welcomes Planeload of Immigrants

by IsraelNN TV
September 8, 2008
http://www.israelnationalnews.com

A chartered flight of new immigrants from North America 
arrived in Israel on Monday morning. The new arrivals were 
greeted with a festive welcome ceremony attended by 
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and MK's Gilad Ardan (Likud) 
and Yisrael Hason (Kadima).

The flight was the fifth and final chartered planeload of new 
immigrants this summer organized by the Nefesh B’Nefesh 
(NBN) organization which facilitates aliyah (Jews moving to 
Israel) in North America and England. Aboard the flight were 
235 new immigrants from North America and the UK, and 
they received their Israeli citizenship upon landing. 

The oldest new immigrant is 86 years old, and the youngest 
is three months old. Over the course of the summer, more 
than 2,000 North American and British Jews immigrated to 
Israel through the Nefesh B’Nefesh organization, on five 
specially-chartered and eight group Aliyah flights. 

Other dignitaries at the welcoming ceremony included: 
Knesset Members Gilad Erdan (Likud) and Yoel Hasson 
(Kadima), Director-General of the Ministry of Immigrant 
Absorption Erez Halfon, Director-General of the Jewish 
Agency's Department for Aliyah and Absorption Eli Cohen, 
and Nefesh B’Nefesh founders Rabbi Yehoshua Fass and 
Tony Gelbart.