Two Hundred New Immigrants From France Arrive Wednesday 

Jul 27, 2004
9 Av 5764
http://www.israelnationalnews.com
 
A welcoming ceremony will be held at Ben Gurion Airport on 
Wednesday, with the participation of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon 
and other dignitaries, for almost 200 new immigrants from France. 
The newcomers, mostly from Paris, are scheduled to arrive on a 
special plane chartered by the Jewish Agency for Israel. 
The plane will depart from Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris 
at 14:00 (Paris time) and will land in Israel at 19:30 (Israel 
time).

On July 18th, Prime Minister Sharon gave a speech urging French 
Jews to move to Israel "before it's too late." He cited increasing 
acts of Jew-hatred in France. 

Among the French Jewish immigrants are 50 children, as well as 
55 students who will be directly integrated into pre-academic 
programs at Tel Aviv University, Bar Ilan University and the 
Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The group also includes families 
arriving in the framework of "settlement aliyah," going directly 
to the Negev communities of Ashalim and Sapir; other immigrants 
will go to Jewish Agency absorption centers throughout the 
country.

Mike Rosenberg, Director-General of the Jewish Agency's Immigration 
Department, says that in the first half of 2004 there was a 26% 
rise in aliyah (Jewish immigration) from France compared with 
the same period last year. In the month of July alone, 600 new 
immigrants will have arrived from France, and it is expected 
that a similar number will arrive in the month of August. 
By the end of the summer, 2,000 Jews will have immigrated from 
France since the beginning of the year.

A third of the new immigrants from France in 2004 are students; 
more than half of the immigrants are coming as singles, and 
45% in families. Most of the new immigrants arrive through 
direct absorption and prefer living in the center of the country.