FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
3,000
Americans emigrate to Israel
As rockets fly, planeloads of Jews arrive in Middle East
Posted: July 20, 2006
9:00 p.m. Eastern
By Alex Traiman
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
Jewish immigrants arrive in Israel yesterday
TEL AVIV As rockets slam into Israel and Israeli reprisals force
Lebanese to flee the border region and parts of Beirut, more than
3,000 American citizens are leaving the comfort and security of the
United States to make war-torn Israel their home.
"What is the best answer to Hezbollah?" asked former Israeli prime
minister and current opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu during a
welcome address to the new citizens. "You are the answer to
Hezbollah."
More than 250 new immigrants arrived yesterday at Israel's Ben
Gurion International Airport to add to the rapidly growing Jewish
population in Israel. The planeload was the second of seven flights
scheduled for this summer and the first arrival since the outbreak
of violence with Lebanon.
The flights are arranged by Nefesh B'Nefesh, a private organization
that provides financial incentives and social services to new
immigrants from North America. Yesterday's planeload was the 17th
since Nefesh B'Nefesh began chartering flights for immigrants in
2002.
The act of immigrating to Israel is called Aliyah, meaning to
ascend, in Hebrew. Once they arrive in Israel, new citizens are
referred to as olim, meaning pilgrims.
Yehoshua Fass, director of Nefesh B'Nefesh and a former pulpit
rabbi in Boca Raton, Fla., called the flight "the ultimate
solidarity mission."
Leading up to yesterday's flight, thousands of American citizens
were fleeing the region back to the U.S. Israel's national airline
carrier, El Al, has added extra flights to New York to accommodate
those seeking to escape the violence.
Since the conflict began last week, more than 1,000 rockets, mostly
Katyushas, have been fired from Lebanon into northern Israel,
killing 18 civilians and injuring scores of others. Lebanese
Internal Security Forces say more than 250 civilians have been
killed during Israeli air strikes, with hundreds more
wounded.
While the conflict began months after the incoming flights of new
Israeli citizens were arranged, the immigrants and the dignitaries
who welcomed them repeatedly pointed out the symbolism of arriving
in Israel during a war.
"You are making Israel stronger," said Netanyahu. "Aliyah is the
lifeline of Israel. Israel is the only homeland for the Jewish
people, and the Jewish people must fight for its place in
it."
Referring to Israel's chances of victory in the war against Hamas
and Hezbollah, Netanyahu stated in his address, "We have won, we
have prevailed. We have built cities, we built industry, we have
built infrastructure."
"We are a very powerful country. We are applying only a fraction of
our power," Netanyahu added.
Following the speech, Netanyahu commented on the continued threat
of rockets raining on northern Israeli cities from Lebanon.
"We must stop the rockets to protect these olim," Netanyahu told
WND.
At a farewell ceremony for the emigrating American citizens in New
York's John F. Kennedy international airport, Israel's consul
general in New York, stated, "The fact that you are making Aliyah
at this point in time is a vote of confidence and security in the
state of Israel and the victory over terrorism."
While many of the new Israelis are moving to locations out of range
of Katyusha rockets from the north and Qassam rockets from the
south, several are moving to cities recently bombarded, including
Haifa and Ashkelon.
Yet despite the rocket threat, most of the new residents offered
statements of confidence regarding their personal and, now,
national security.
Sammy Capuano, who arrived on the flight with his wife Shiri and
their six-month-old son from Aventura, Fla., told WND that despite
the ongoing violence, "it's a feeling of relief to be in
Israel."
"God could have put Israel in Texas or the Bahamas," Capuano said.
"But God put us here amongst our enemies to teach us that our
security comes from one source: from following God's
commandments.
Nachum Kligman was one of hundreds of guests ushering the arrival
of immigrants at Ben Gurion Airport. He was there with his family
to welcome his parents on their Aliyah. Kligman himself made Aliyah
on Nefesh B'Nefesh's inaugural flight in July 2002.
Kligman is not concerned about the threat to his safety in Israel,
citing the terror threat as a primary component of his decision to
move to Israel.
"We made Aliyah in response to 9-11," he said. "When 9-11 happened,
that is when I knew it was time to move to Israel. God was sending
me a message."
Exactly one year to the day after the largest terror attack in U.S.
history, Kligman and his wife welcomed the birth of a baby boy,
Moshe Shlomo. "We heard God's message in 2001, and He rewarded us
in 2002."
Two additional immigrant flights are arriving from France next
week, and a third European flight is departing Great Britain in
August.
The flights are coordinated in conjunction with the Jewish Agency
for Israel, a non-governmental agency focused on bringing Jews to
live in Israel from around the world, on behalf of the state.
Bringing one million additional Jews to Israel was one of former
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's primary stated goals.
Shlomo Riskin, rabbi of Israel's Efrata community, made Aliyah from
the U.S. 20 years ago. His community has been a popular landing
ground for many Americans, including several on yesterday's flight
who have left the comforts of America for a new home in
Israel.
During the welcome ceremony, Riskin told the new immigrants, "If
Israel was Disneyland, we would come for fun, in the sun. But this
is the motherland, and we will come when our mother needs
us."
Riskin added, "Israel is the safest place in the world for
Jews."