October 13, 2009 / 24 Tishrei 5770

200 new immigrants arrive on 7 flights from around the world on one day

A special welcome ceremony will be held for the new immigrants from Africa, Europe, America and Asia at the historic Jewish Agency Courtyard , 48 King George St. Jerusalem on Wednesday, October 14th at 4:30pm in the presence of Minister of Immigrant Absorption Ms Sofa Landver, Jewish Agency Treasurer Hagai Meirom, Director General of the Jewish Agency Moshe Vigdor, and Director General of Jewish Agency's Immigration and Absorption Department Eli Cohen

The new immigrants arrived during the course of October 13th from around the world: South Africa, Mexico, England, France, Russia, Belgium, Turkey and Switzerland.

Following their arrival, the new immigrants are being accommodated at the Shalom Hotel in Jerusalem`s Bayit Vegan neighborhood. On 14/10 there will be a special "absorption day" for them, where necessary services, such as health fund registration, National Insurance and opening bank accounts, are provided in a centralized and orderly fashion. For the first time, each of the new immigrant families will be accompanied by an absorption volunteer working in the framework of the Jewish Agency's new absorption program "Babayit Beyahad"

Over the last year, the Jewish Agency began to run centralized "absorption days" such as this one for new immigrants in order to ease their initial integration into the country. At this stage, around 30% of all the new immigrants arriving in Israel from around the world participate in "absorption days". The Jewish Agency hopes to expand significantly the number of new immigrants making use of this project.

Following the absorption day activities, at 4:30pm, a festive ceremony will take place for the new immigrants at the Jewish Agency Courtyard with the participation of Minister of Immigrant Absorption Sofa Landver, Jewish Agency Treasurer Hagai Meirom, Jewish Agency Director General Moshe Vigdor, and the DirectorGeneral of the Jewish Agency's Aliyah Department Eli Cohen. At this moving occasion, the new immigrants will receive their new Israeli identity cards a day after their arrival in Israel.

For the first time in a decade, the Jewish Agency is expecting this year a change in the trend of aliyah from the Former Soviet Union(FSU), with a rise in the number of olim from the FSU as high as 20%.