Itongadol.- This Sunday, a large delegation from Israel arrived in Buenos Aires to participate in the Expo ATID 2024, organized by The Jewish Agency for Israel, together with Ofek Israeli and the World Zionist Organization, in partnership with the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration of Israel and the support of the Argentine Zionist Organization.
There, the more than 400 attendees interested in a future aliyah had the opportunity to learn first-hand about job and career opportunities, Israeli society, educational options, the economy and the aliyah process.
«Since 7 October, the State of Israel has been at war and we know that we are waiting for its revival and for immigrants to arrive right now». That’s why «they passed a special government decision, where they want to invest in bringing in immigrants,» Avichai Kahana, director general of Israel’s Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, told Itongadol.
During the event, attendees also participated in talks and panels with experts from different fields, as well as visiting information booths where personalised advice on education, employment and aliyah benefits was provided.
At the ATID Expo, many families with young children could be seen making enquiries with the decision to open a folder and start their aliyah process. Young people also made enquiries at the stands of Keren Leyedidut, OLEI, Ariel University and Keren Hayesod, the Protected Aliyah project.
The Haifa and Bat Yam booths received specific enquiries from prospective olim, as did those of Habaita, an organisation that helps with employment, the Idud Aliyah Department of the WSO and the Garin Tzavar educational programme, which is for tzavah.
«Argentina’s aliyah has always been important and in the last 2 or 3 years, after the coronavirus (pandemic), we were not active enough, so we saw the opportunity to come for two reasons: we know that aliyah is part of the identity of this important community and we brought new opportunities that we didn’t have before, like a new doctors’ project that is very important,» Shay Felber, director of Aliyah and Integration at The Jewish Agency for Israel, told Itongadol.
A very special sector was that of Nefesh BeNefesh, which came to Argentina for the first time in response to the critical shortage of doctors in Israel. It had a whole floor and talks and video conferences for those interested in doing there with many additional benefits.
«Nefesh BeNefesh has experience in bringing doctors from the United States and Canada. We said we would come to Argentina if there were 30 interested and 150 signed up,» its executive vice-president, Zeev Gershinsky, told Itongadol.
The MedEx programme, under the name MedEx, through which more than 60 doctors from all over Argentina received assistance and information to plan their aliyah and obtain licenses. It is expected that 2,000 Jewish doctors will arrive in Israel over the next five years.
Rafael, a 64-year-old Argentinian clinician, completed his paperwork at the ATID Expo to travel soon with a job already assigned to him and his degree revalidation approved yesterday in a streamlined process that allowed him to think about packing his bags thanks to Nefesh BeNefesh.
«If we stop believing in aliyah, if we stop believing in the connection between the communities, between what is happening in Israel and what is happening here, then we are letting our enemies win and that is not what we want: we want to show that we love the community», summarised Arie Abitbul, Ofek Israeli’s general director, in a conversation with Itongadol.
The event was attended by the Israeli ambassador, Eyal Sela, and the hostess of the house, Gaby Glazman, representative for the Southern Cone of the Jewish Agency for Israel and the World Zionist Organization, who in a few days will finish her shlijut after an important task since the current president of the WSO, Yaakov Hagoel, understood the importance of unifying in one person the representation of both institutions.