News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) The Nefesh B'Nefesh North American immigrant organization noted in statistics published for the end of 2007 that although 16 percent of all new Israelis who arrived at Ben Gurion International Airport came from North America, there could have been more.

"Despite indications of a worrying trend, we could have brought in more immigrants had we had access to a larger budget," said NBN Chairman Danny Ayalon. NBN was locked in a battle with the Jewish Agency for Israel earlier this year over the issue of government funding to non-government organizations who recruit new immigrants.

Fewer than 20,000 Jews became Israelis in 2007, ten percent less than a year earlier. NBN statistics showed that in contrast to immigration from elsewhere in the world, the number of new immigrants from North America and the United Kingdom who came with NBN is growing.