Minister Gila Gamliel (Likud) on Monday addressed over 200 Americans who are making aliyah to Israel, as they embarked from John F. Kennedy International Airport for the first Nefesh B'Nefesh (NBN) charter flight for summer 2015.
The charter flight will land in Israel's Ben-Gurion airport on Tuesday morning.
“You have to chosen to come to Israel on your own free will. Not because of anti-Semitism, not because of religious persecution, not because of poverty, but you are coming from a shared system of values and ideals, to build your home in the Jewish state, to return to Zion, just as countless of other families have done,” she said.
“You are following the Zionist dream,” said Gamliel, who noted that her parents, too, came to Israel from other countries. “You, all of you, will be part of the government and the influence in Israel.”