Free Republic

Jewish-British writer and comedian Lee Kern, who is planning on emigrating to Israel, took to social media to express his displeasure with the direction his country has taken in light of the results of the local elections in which many left-wing and Muslim candidates saw great success. "I’m leaving Britain and moving to Israel. Even if it wasn’t for the antisemitism I’d be leaving. Britain is a dying society. I’ll be fine in Israel. It’s the most dynamic, creative, and positive place I’ve ever been - even though surrounded by Islamic fundamentalist psychopaths who daily try to destroy it," Kern...

Diaspora Jewry needs de-education to erase the impressions affecting mind and heart to make them feel at home. Op-ed.

Two families who fled from Venezuela landed at Ben-Gurion on Wednesday amidst hundreds of olim from other countries. They received clandestine assistance to leave the country from the Jewish Agency. Venezuela, a once-wealthy country has descended into crisis over the past few years, with the current situation being total anarchy and economic destitution. The Jewish community, which included 25,000 members in the 1990s is down to about 4,000 members, with most Jews immigrating to the US, Mexico, Panama or other countries. Only about 12% immigrate to Israel, according to Jewish Agency chairman Yitzchak Herzog. "We had to leave Venezuela," Avraham...

The security situation in Israel may be tense, but that won't be stopping yet another wave of North American olim from making Israel their new home soon. Arutz Sheva spoke to some of the soon-to-be-Israelis making aliyah with Nefesh B'Nefesh at last week's aliyah event in New York - many of whom said the current wave of terrorism only made them more determined...

Meretz Chairman MK Zahava Gal-On intends to petition the Attorney General to stop plans from Minister of Construction Uri Ariel (Jewish Home) to house immigrants from France in Judea and Samaria. Ariel sent a letter asking the Yesha Council where the flow of immigrants from France could settle, as France reels from a string of anti-Semitic attacks. France led the list of countries from which Jews made aliyah to Israel in 2014, with almost 7,000 new French immigrants, more than double the 3,400 who came last year. Aliyah is only expected to increase after the latest spate of anti-Semitic attacks....

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has led calls in Israel for French Jews to "come home to Israel" Saturday, after 17 people were killed in France during three days of Islamist attacks. "To all the Jews of France, all the Jews of Europe, I would like to say that Israel is not just the place in whose direction you pray, the state of Israel is your home," he said in a televised statement, referring to the Jewish practice of facing Jerusalem during prayer. "Unless the world comes to its senses, terror will continue to strike in other places," he added...

The immigration of Diaspora Jews to Israel increased by seven percent in 2013 while North American aliya dropped by 11 percent, according to figures released by the Jewish Agency and the Immigrant Absorption Ministry on Sunday. The overall increase was partially driven by a 63% increase in aliya from France, part of a 35% rise among Western European nations. In total 19,200 Jews immigrated to Israel, a rise of 260 from the previous year. While the official figures listed an 11% drop in aliya from North America with some 3,000 immigrants coming over the past year as opposed to 3,389...

Nefesh B’Nefesh Creates Award To Recognize Outstanding Anglo Immigrants In IsraelBy Joel Leyden Israel News AgencyJerusalem, Israel --- October 5, 2013 ... Nefesh B’Nefesh, Israel's leading immigration (aliya) agency, has established an award to recognize outstanding immigrants to Israel from English-speaking countries. The Bonei Zion Prize was established by Nefesh B’Nefesh “to formally recognize outstanding Anglo olim — veteran and recent — who illustrate the spirit of modern-day Zionism by contributing in a potent manner towards developing the State of Israel,” Nefesh B’Nefesh said in announcing the prize. A panel of judges will award $10,000 prizes in five categories: science...

Moshe Hassan's father knew the process of aliya inside and out. "My father tried to come here from Tunis in 1946, but was caught by the British and sent to Cyprus," Hassan told The Jerusalem Post by telephone on Sunday. "He was put in a camp there, and that's where he met my mother. They immigrated to Israel in 1948." They settled in Beit Hagadi, a religious moshav next to Netivot, but the elder Hassan would spend little time in his new country. Asked by the Jewish Agency to help bring Moroccan Jews on aliya, Ya'acov Hassan returned to North...

Olmert: Nefesh B'Nefesh Israel Aliya Stronger Than IDF (photo) Prime Minister Olmert greets and provides identity cards to Nefesh B'Nefesh immigrants from the US and Canada at Ben Gurion Airport. By Joel Leyden Israel News Agency Jerusalem ----September 5, 2007...... It all started with a terror attack. On the sun drenched morning of March 28, 2001, just before seven o'clock, seven Jewish teenagers were waiting for a school bus at a gas station near the Neveh Yemin Junction, not far from Kfar Saba, Israel. They were going to the Bnei Hayil Yeshiva High School in Kedumim. A Palestinian suicide bomber...

As anti-Semitism and Muslim anti-Jewish violence escalate, France's Jews are making Israel their new home. When prime minister Ariel Sharon, reacting to anti-Semitic attacks in France, said in summer 2004 that French aliya is "a must and they have to move immediately," the French Jewish establishment, led by CRIF, was embarrassed. French officials were scandalized; President Jacques Chirac even suggested that Sharon wasn't welcome in France, a spat that ended after Sharon lauded the French government for its vigilance against anti-Semitism. But to Orthodox, generally rightward-leaning French Jews, who make up 30% of the community, and who fill most of...

Harry and Murielle Ouaknine are successful professionals in France, but they’re thinking of giving up their life here to move to Israel. “We always thought about moving to Israel, but the environment in France now has pushed us to find the courage to do it,” Ouaknine said last month at a fair here, held to encourage immigration to Israel. Ouaknine, a shipping broker and the father of two children, was gathering information about high schools in Tel Aviv. He wasn’t alone. An increasing number of Jews in France are contemplating a move to Israel. Nearly 4,500 people showed up at...

A prominent leader of Great Britain's Sephardi Jewish community will immigrate to Israel on Saturday night, Israeli cable TV station Hot News reported Sunday. Rabbi Pinchas Toledano, who serves as the head of the Sephardi rabbinical court in England, will immigrate under the sponsorship of the Jewish Agency, which has recently focused its efforts on bringing Jews from Western Europe to Israel. The agency's initiative is aimed at addressing the plight of Jews who have been subject to a surge in anti-Semitism. Toledano is considered one of the more prominent Jewish figures in Western Europe, according to Hot News. Officials...

Dec. 9, 2004 7:03 | Updated Dec. 9, 2004 17:09 The Boeing aliya By DELPHINE MATTHIEUSSENT The intensified immigration from affluent France has given rise to a strange kind of commuter who keeps his family here and his job there Standing between his mother and his uncle, 17-year-old Alexis Haddad pours wine into a kiddush cup and hesitantly begins to say Kiddush, the prayer that is recited at the beginning of Shabbat and holiday meals, usually by family heads. Yet for more than a year now, this teenager has been saying Kiddush himself, except for every fourth weekend when his...

It's not just people who come on aliya. The number of four-legged olim who reach our shores might make even Noah take note For many people coming on aliya, their pets are like American Express cards. They wouldn't think of leaving home without them. At times, the number of dogs and cats - not to mention the birds, fish and even turtles who tag along - who board El Al aliya flights would surprise even Noah. Compared to many other countries, Israel is a pet-friendly destination, a fact that makes it easier for their humans to come too. Dori Gould,...

I didn't know David Applebaum, the remarkable doctor who saved hundreds of Jerusalemites wounded in terrorist attacks and who was murdered in the Cafe Hillel atrocity with his daughter, Nava, on the eve of her wedding. But many years ago, I did know members of the family of his wife, Debbie - the Speros of Cleveland - one of those essential Jewish families that energizes an entire community. And so I was among the thousands of people who crowded the Applebaum house during the week of mourning, held instead of the week of post-wedding celebrations. The crowds moved slow and...

Yet another plane filled with North American Jews immigrating to Israel landed this morning in Ben Gurion International Airport, after embarking yesterday from New York. This is the second such flight within a month, bringing the total number of immigrants sponsored by the Nefesh b'Nefesh (Jewish Souls United) organization this year to close to 650 - and more are expected. Hear coverage of the arrival on Arutz-7's English broadcasts at 9 PM tonight (2 PM Eastern Standard Time) at "http://www.israelnationalnews.com/english/radio/live/Flive.htm". The new Israelis faced an excited and emotional welcoming ceremony from some 700 relatives, officials - such as Shimon Peres...

Last week, 330 new immigrants from the United States landed in Israel. In the evening, I met five of them for the first time. They will be my neighbors for the next year or so, until we move on to the next stage in our aliyah and they continue with their own. They were exhausted, but excited, as they looked over the house that they will rent and their daughters played with our cat. Like this new family, we made aliyah with three small children and were suddenly thrust into registration, kupat cholim decisions, identification cards, buying a refrigerator and...

An unidentified father, part of a group of Immigrants organized by the Jewish Agency, wheels his luggage and his son before they boarded a chartered plane to Israel at JFK Airport in New York. The organization is trying to encourage immigration to Israel. Photo: AP Dori Gould, an educator from upstate New York says goodbye to her five cats and five dogs before they all board a plane to Israel at JFK Airport in New York. An estimated 1,000 North Americans were emigrating to Israel under a program sponsored by the Nefesh B'Nefesh organization to increase immigration to Israel....

When Binyamin Katzman and Tamar Oser met at a rally for Jerusalem two winters ago, they talked about their love of Israel and their shared dream of moving to the Holy Land one day. On Wednesday, Katzman and Oser celebrated their first week of marriage aboard an El Al jet carrying 318 North American immigrants to Israel. The flight - sponsored by Nefesh B'Nefesh, a privately funded organization that provides one-time grants of up to $25,000 to immigrants who stay for at least three years - included secular and religious Jews, young singles and grandparents, newlyweds and parents of 10....