tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961424468641126505.post-435943760020368292008-05-06T23:47:00.003-04:002008-05-07T00:04:57.882-04:00It looks as if the government of Israel has decided to celebrate International Aliyah Day with 400 Jewish immigrants who decided to leave their former homelands in order to settle within the holy land.<br /><br /><blockquote>(<a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=980982&contrassID=19&subContrassID=1">Haaretz.com</a>) The Immigration Absorption Ministry and the Jewish Agency on Monday welcomed some 400 new immigrants from around the world in a gala ceremony marking International Aliyah Day.<br /><br />The ceremony was held at 3 P.M. at Ben Gurion International Airport in honor of the hundreds of immigrants who arrived from 23 countries including the United States, Canada, South Africa Russia and France.<br /><br />Immigrants who arrived Monday were eligible for a package of special immigration benefits, including extra baggage allowance, temporary free housing for young olim, 60 hours of guided tours around Israel, as well as a number of other excursions and events.</blockquote><br /><br />Israel has been recently <a href="http://www.isragood.com/2008/01/aliyah-version-20.html">increasing their efforts</a> to encourage Jews to make Aliyah (or move to Israel), especially from the western world (where the temptation to stay is much greater due to the ease of life--at least in the US).<br /><br />Hopefully some of them will consider, as they have the potential of greatly impacting the nation <a href="http://www.isragood.com/2007/09/would-you-pay-200000-for-north-american.html">financially</a>, if not culturally as well.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Content <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.5/">Copyright 2006-2008</a> of <a href="http://www.isragood.com/">IsraGood</a>. All Rights Reserved. Violators (and hosts) can be prosecuted under national and international laws.</div>Darnell Claytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10892014932718500845noreply@blogger.com