Hundreds of rockets fired at Israel from Gaza terrorists wasn’t a strong enough reason to prevent more than 1,000 Jews from making Israel their new home, with 430 of them arriving from France on Wednesday. Immigration to Israel is known in Hebrew as “Aliyah”—or “going up.” Considering the conflict situation, these new immigrants have certainly risen to the occasion.
“Your Aliyah is the best answer to our enemies’ rockets. More than 1,000 new immigrants from around the world have arrived in Israel during Operation Protective Edge. Today, 430 of you came from France. Not a single one of these new immigrants canceled or postponed his or her arrival. Welcome to the family,” said Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky in a press release from the Israeli Government Press Office.
While Israel has plenty of safe zones where the Gaza rockets can’t or haven’t reached, including numerous tourist locations, the press release said that dozens of the new immigrants actually planned to move to southern cities in the range of fire.
So while Israel is generally a safe place—these conflicts with Gaza have only reached beyond the southern regions of Israel every couple of years or so—these Jews chose to come when the news about Israel was less than positive.
Sharansky, himself an immigrant, praised the French group for their decision with a sports analogy. “France may not have won the World Cup, but you are champions when it comes to Aliyah.”
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, July 17, 2014)