by Maayana Miskin
July 25, 2010
Israel National News
1,000 olim (new immigrants) from France, Britain, South Africa, and various countries in South America will arrive in Israel this week to build their lives in the Jewish state. The new arrivals will come in on 23 flights.Of the 1,000 arrivals, 550 will come from France, 170 from various countries in South America, 100 from Britain, and 60 from South Africa.
Jewish Agency head Natan Sharansky said, “At a time when Israel is dealing with de-legitimization around the world, it is important to see that our brothers throughout the Jewish world not only support us, but even choose to join us and make aliyah to Israel.”
One of the flights will be the first-ever direct aliyah flight from Los Angeles to Israel. The flight is expected to arrive on Tuesday at 2:15 p.m. Bearing 62 new olim from the West Coast of the United States. 48 of the 62 are young adults and children.
The Nefesh B'Nefesh organization, which works with the Jewish Agency to encourage aliyah from English-speaking countries, reports that aliyah from North America is expected to hit a new record high in 2010. In total, 4,500 Jews from the United States and Canada plan to make Israel their home this year.
Nefesh B'Nefesh was established in 2002, and in the years since has brought 25,000 new olim to Israel from the US, Canada and Britain.
Jerusalem - Israel's Population Sits at 7.5 Million at Close of 2009
Jerusalem - The population of Israel stands at 7,509,000 at the close of 2009, according to new data released Wednesday by the Central Bureau of Statistics,
American Jews make aliya ...
American Jews make aliya ...
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According to the data, 5,664,000 Israelis are Jewish, making up some 75.4 percent of the population. Arabs make up 20.3% of the population, at 1,526,000, and there are 319,000 ‘others,’ (4.3%).
During 2009, the Israeli population grew by 1.8%, according to the CBS, by 135,000 people.
From 2003, the population rate of the Israeli population was been a steady 1.8% per year.
The data also showed that 160,000 babies were born in the past year, and 39,000 people died.
A total of 14,500 new immigrants arrived in Israel throughout 2009, which was similar to the previous year’s figures, however the Jewish Agency said earlier this week that aliya rose by some 17% in 2009, from 13,860 in 2008 to some 16,200 this year.
