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Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Speech at the Employment Fair for Immigrants from Latin America / Translation |
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| 23/03/2004 |
Good day to you all,
Since there are so many immigrants here who arrived in Israel in the past two years, I would like to welcome you all. Welcome to our homeland, our home, our country – the State of Israel.
I spoke many times with Minister Tzipi Livne about Aliyah from Latin America, and I told her that I attribute great importance to this Aliyah. As you know, I initiated the operation in which special benefits were granted to immigrants who came from Argentina and Uruguay. We decided that at one of the large events the Ministry of Absorption held for immigrants, I would come and speak with you, the immigrants, about the immense importance that I attach to your arrival to the State of Israel.
I attribute such great importance to your Aliyah for three reasons. First, because of the country. The State of Israel is a Jewish state, and we aspire to bring as many Jews here as possible from all the nations of the world. Aliyah is our guarantee for the continuation of the development of Israel in all fields.
In the past 56 years, we have succeeded in doing what many thought was impossible: we brought millions of immigrants to Israel from 102 countries, who spoke 82 different languages, and they were all absorbed in Israel, and they all speak Hebrew or are learning Hebrew.
The contribution of Aliyah to the State of Israel is impossible to measure in numbers. The best example is the warm communities of former Latin Americans in Israel. Wonderful people, imbued with Zionism and love of Israel – some of whom I know personally – who succeeded in integrating into Israeli society and contributing to all areas of life.
The second reason is the time period. Most of you arrived in 2002, during a period in which the terrorist organizations thought they would succeed in breaking the spirit of the Israeli society. Your Aliyah to Israel is the best proof of the fact that we have not broken – we have not broken, and we will never break.
Israel is a strong country, and we will continue to use all the necessary means to preserve its security. We will continue to absorb Aliyah and build and develop our country, the only Jewish country in the world. If we could, we would immediately absorb another million like you.
The third reason is because of you, the immigrants. Ultimately, Israel is the only country where a Jew can truly live as a Jew. You took the important step which will ensure that you and your children and grandchildren will remain Jews forever.
I know it is not easy to be a new immigrant. I always say that I am very glad and thankful that my parents came to Israel, thereby allowing me to be born here, and I did not have to come here as a new immigrant. I am aware of the difficulties, and I promise you that we are making every effort to assist you in making your absorption to Israel easier and as pleasant as possible, and this convention, organized by the Ministry of Absorption, is a good example of this. However, in the end, the thing that will make it easier for you to be absorbed best into Israeli society is time – the longer you live here, the more you meet Israelis, the better your Hebrew becomes, the more your children integrate into kindergarten, school and the army – this is how you will feel that you are integrating better into Israeli society.
And I am certain that in a few more years no one will be able to tell the difference between you and any “Sabra” who was born here in Israel. (Despite the fact that it seems to me that also in few more years, if we want to eat Asado the way it should be made, we will come to visit you.)
I wish all of you success, and call on you to talk to your family and friends who remained behind to make sure that they too join us and move to Israel soon.
Thank you very much. And I would like to thank everyone engaged in this important work.
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