Record Year for US Immigration to Israel

This is a bellweather development, because increasing numbers of Jews leave the nation with the highest quality of life for one threatened with extermination. Why? The same reason Jews and Christians often lay down their lives to save others, and the same reason many Muslims lay down their lives to kill infidel children: because it's a mitzvah. Ideology, not economics, is the key determinant of behavior.

About 230 new olim from the United States and Canada are expected to arrive in Israel next Tuesday on a flight organized by the Nefesh B'Nefesh organization.

Upon their arrival at Ben Gurion Airport, the newcomers will be received by a welcoming ceremony with the participation of hundreds of citizens who have already made aliyah from North America in recent years.

Over the past five years, the number of olim from the United States and Canada has increased by about 80 percent. According to data by the Nefesh B?Nefesh organization, over 3,500 people will make aliyah from North America during the summer of 2007.

The Aliyah Department of the Jewish Agency for Israel is anticipating that immigration to Israel from North America will increase between 5 and 10 percent this year, marking the highest year for aliyah from North America in 25 years. In 2006, 3,200 residents of the US and Canada formally became Israeli citizens, the highest figure since 1983.

Cooperation between the Jewish Agency and Nefesh B'Nefesh, however, has been discontinued due to differences between the two organizations, which have worked together on bringing olim to Israel up until recently.

The split has been attributed, among other things, to disputes over financial issues and to Nefesh B'Nefesh's ability to be selective in receiving applicants for aliyah, as opposed to the Jewish Agency, which has to accept anybody who fulfils the criterion for aliyah as set out under the Law of Return.

This is not true. The root of the dispute is that the two groups care about different things. Nefesh B'Nefesh cares about aliyah, and all of the recent success in catalyzing American aliya is entirely to the credit of the recently-formed Nefesh B'Nefesh. The Jewish Agency is largely a sinecure for those with protexia, which means that aliyah is their biggest long-term threat. The Jewish Agency aliya budget should be given directly to Nefesh B'Nefesh.

The only way to release the stranglehold on this nation by the protexia-wielders is to immigrate and vote. One who believes that God has given Israel to the Jews as a blessing must treat it as such. A baby is a similar blessing: one who doesn't make the unpleasant effort of getting up to feed it in the middle of the night is going to lose the blessing because of negligence.