'Israel soon to be larger than Diaspora'

By Haviv Rettig Gur
http://www.jpost.com
August 4, 2009

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu welcomed a planeload of olim on
Tuesday at Ben Gurion Airport, telling them "we're close to a tipping 
point." 

According to the prime minister, "for the first time in 2,000 years, 
there are going to be more Jews in Israel than outside it." 

Speaking to a terminal full of olim from the United States and 
Canada, who came with Nefesh B'Nefesh on the organization's 
38th chartered aliya flight since the first one in July 2002, 
Netanyahu noted that Israel's Jewish population was nearing 
the six million mark. 

It is hard to gauge the number of Jews in the Diaspora. In the 
largest community - the Untied States - the only effective tool 
is a telephone poll. Nevertheless, Diaspora Jewry is usually 
estimated at between six and seven million, though some 
demographers and scholars consider this a low figure. 

Netanyahu told the 238 new immigrants that aliya to the state of 
Israel had given the Jewish people "our ability to control our fate 
and our destiny." 

In particular, he welcomed the "professionalism in work and the 
[drive] to excellence, and the antipathy to bureaucracy" which 
North American olim bring with them to the Jewish state. 
He called on the new Israelis to work to make Israel "the most 
advanced country in the world." 


Tuesday's flight, carried out in conjunction with the Jewish Agency 
and the ministries of the interior and immigrant absorption, contained 
a cross-section of American Jewish society, from religious to secular, 
from bearded rabbis to 55 young singles slated to join the IDF in 
the coming weeks. 

The new olim were greeted at the airport by scores of singing and 
dancing well-wishers, including delegations of Israeli youth movements, 
family members of the immigrants and public figures ranging from 
Netanyahu, Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky and MK Uri 
Orbach to mayors from cities that will be receiving the olim, including 
Beit Shemesh and Modi'in. 

Nefesh B'Nefesh co-founder Tony Gelbart noted in the ceremony 
that Israel "is the only country where the prime minister and heads 
of the government come to meet new immigrants." 

North American aliya is expected to rise in 2009 due to the 
worldwide economic downturn, possibly passing the 4,000 mark. 
In particular, Nefesh B'Nefesh figures reveal that some 450 young 
olim will be arriving in Israel this year in order to serve in the IDF.