PM to olim: You're our secret weapon

By Hilary Leile Krieger
The Jerusalem Post
July 25, 2006

Minutes before the first of 650 new olim from France streamed 
off their planes at Ben-Gurion Airport Tuesday, Jewish Agency 
Chairman Ze'ev Bielski declared, "This is the Jewish answer to 
Hizbullah and to Hamas." 

Despite the daily barrages of rockets the two terror groups are 
hurling at Israel, none of the immigrants scheduled to come 
on Tuesday canceled. The result set a record for single-day 
aliya from France. The flights were coordinated by the Jewish 
Agency and AMI, an organization dedicated to encouraging 
French aliya through financial incentives and personal 
counseling. 

When Prime Minister Ehud Olmert greeted the immigrants during 
a welcoming ceremony held in an airport hangar, he also 
emphasized their willingness to come even as Israel suffers 
from rocket attacks. 

"The basic weapon that we have is the Jewish people, people 
who love Israel, who want to live here, who want to defend Israel," 
he said. "Our enemies think they know us, but they don't 
understand the deep connection between Jews wherever they 
live" for Israel. 

Liraz Berdugo, 22, said she had always wanted to make aliya 
and wasn't going to let the recent violence stop her. 

"It's not fair to come just when it's nice and good," said the 
newlywed, who will be living with her husband in Jerusalem. 

"When you come home, you don't ask if there's Hizbullah, 
if there are Katyushas," said Bielski, who said he expected 
French aliya to rise 20 percent this year to some 3,500 people. 
"This is the only home you've got." 

Julien Daham, 29, who arrived from Nice, agreed that Israel 
was the place he felt most at home. He said he planned to 
move to Ashkelon, a city recently put in range of Hamas-fired 
Kassams, a situation that didn't deter him. 

"I don't feel unsafe here," he said, describing France as more 
dangerous than Israel. "The streets are safer here, even with 
all the attacks." 

Pierre Besnainou, the Tunisian-born French tycoon who 
provides most of the funds for AMI, described the lack of 
cancellations on the part of olim as a "victory" for Zionism. 
Besnainou's son was among those to make aliya Tuesday. 

Also on board was 91-year-old Miriam Teboul and her daughter 
Georgette. 

"It always has been a dream for me and my mother to be in 
Israel," Georgette said upon their arrival. "I think she wants to 
die here."