Sound The Trumpet : 'Israel soon to be larger than Diaspora'

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“'Israel soon to be larger than Diaspora'”
by Jpost
August 4th, 2009

'Israel soon to be larger than Diaspora' | Jerusalem Post

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu welcomed a planeload of olim on Tuesday at Ben Gurion Airport, telling them "we're close to a tipping point."

According to the prime minister, "for the first time in 2,000 years, there are going to be more Jews in Israel than outside it."

Speaking to a terminal full of olim from the United States and Canada, who came with Nefesh B'Nefesh on the organization's 38th chartered aliya flight since the first one in July 2002, Netanyahu noted that Israel's Jewish population was nearing the six million mark.

It is hard to gauge the number of Jews in the Diaspora. In the largest community - the Untied States - the only effective tool is a telephone poll. Nevertheless, Diaspora Jewry is usually estimated at between six and seven million, though some demographers and scholars consider this a low figure.

Netanyahu told the 238 new immigrants that aliya to the state of Israel had given the Jewish people "our ability to control our fate and our destiny."

In particular, he welcomed the "professionalism in work and the [drive] to excellence, and the antipathy to bureaucracy" which North American olim bring with them to the Jewish state. He called on the new Israelis to work to make Israel "the most advanced country in the world."

Tuesday's flight, carried out in conjunction with the Jewish Agency and the ministries of the interior and immigrant absorption, contained a cross-section of American Jewish society, from religious to secular, from bearded rabbis to 55 young singles slated to join the IDF in the coming weeks.

The new olim were greeted at the airport by scores of singing and dancing well-wishers, including delegations of Israeli youth movements, family members and public figures. the latter ranged from Netanyahu, Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky and MK Uri Orbach to mayors from cities that will be receiving the olim, including Beit Shemesh and Modi'in.

Nefesh B'Nefesh co-founder Tony Gelbart noted in the ceremony that Israel "is the only country where the prime minister and heads of the government come to meet new immigrants."

North American aliya is expected to rise in 2009 due to the worldwide economic downturn, possibly passing the 4,000 mark. In particular, Nefesh B'Nefesh figures reveal that some 450 young olim will be arriving in Israel this year to serve in the IDF.

Editors Note....The Word of God foretold these days more than 2600 years ago. The prophecies of Israel's return to the Land of Israel are being fulfilled before our very eyes. Our God is a God who writes history before it happens, we can trust all of His promises.

Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13