New Knesset lobby will seek to improve absorption of Western olim

By HAVIV RETTIG GUR
A new lobby in the Knesset will seek to improve the absorption of olim from the West. The lobby will be established formally by MKs Gilad Erdan (Likud) and Yoel Hasson (Kaduima) on Tuesday. "There are special issues that olim from the west need to deal with and we want to make sure that the State of Israel is prepared to help them," Hasson told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday. The Tuesday meeting at the Knesset will be attendee by private aliya organizations, Nefesh B'Nefesh and AMI, the Jewish Agency, Absorption Minister Ya'acov Edri and individuals interested in increasing aliya. 40-45 percent of the world's Jews resides in the United States and together with France and Britain constitutes some 90 percent of Diaspora Jewry. This demographic reality has led the governement to seek new ways with which to encourage so-called "aliya by choice."