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February 29th, 2016 
Awake Goy Figure 1 Nefesh B’Nefesh advertising for Aliyah fair in Toronto
by Iman Najjar-Annab
Let us talk about aliyah; that process that allows any Jew and their descendants from anywhere in the world, to go and live on Palestinian land.
There is an aliyah fair in Toronto on March 8th. That fair is designed to promote Aliyah journeys to Israel.
Nefesh B’Nefesh, or soul by soul, is a nonprofit organization that is organizing this event. Its mission is to promote, encourage and facilitate aliyah (Jewish immigration to Israel) from North America and the United Kingdom.
Of course the concept is based on the mythical idea that Jews have been wandering for 3000 years and must return to their homeland. The mythical concept of “a Jewish people” written about extensively by Shlomo Sand in his book, “The Invention of the Jewish People”, the successful inculcation of this idea into the Jewish psyche, coupled with the fabrication of growing anti-Semitic sentiment is what enables this sort of project to have been rather successful.
Nefesh B’Nefesh promises to remove all financial, logistical and professional obstacles from planned moves to Israel. They and other organizations like them must be doing something right; the official figures released by the Israeli government for 2014 saw a 32% increase in immigrants, compared to the approximately 20,000 immigrants that made aliyah to Israel in 2013. For the first time in Israel’s history, France has topped the list of countries of origin for immigrants to Israel, no doubt fomented by the Charlie Hebdo incident and Netanyahu’s plea to French Jews to “come home”.
However, other reports indicate that Nefesh B’Nefesh have their work cut out for them. A report published in late 2015 in the Jerusalem Post announced that emigration to the United Kingdom outstripped aliyah. In other words, more Jews were leaving Israel than Jews were arriving to Israel.
Interestingly, a significant 14% of all Canadian Jews are Israeli emigrants. A study conducted at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver reveals that some 45,000 former Israelis currently live in Canada, however according to estimates, the actual number is closer to around 60,000.
Putting these figures aside for a moment, it is important to consider other implications of making aliya. Given that many of the illegal settlements being erected on confiscated Palestinian are homes designed to house olim, effectively, aliya is one more spanner in the work of decolonization. Aliya is possibly the most unethical Israeli project as yet. Apart from the fact that non Israeli Jews are allowed to settle in lieu of a Palestinian refugee living in limbo, it makes non Israeli Jews complicit in the illegal occupation of Palestinian land. Israel is likely making criminals out of Jews who make aliya because they are automatically associated with breaking international law and dispossessing another people.
The international community considers the establishment of Israeli settlements in the Israeli-occupied territories illegal under international law. Israel however, maintains that they are consistent with international law because it does not agree that the Fourth Geneva Convention applies to the territories occupied in 1967. The United Nations Security Council, the United Nations General Assembly, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Court of Justice and the High Contracting Parties to the Convention have all affirmed that the Fourth Geneva Convention does apply.
So, what Nefesh B’Nefesh are promoting is illegal immigration, privileging settler colonials to appropriate what is not theirs while the indigenous Palestinians remain displaced, dispossessed, refugees in their own country. Effectively, if olim agree to live in illegal settlements they are breaking the law and trampling on every shred of morality and hope for justice.
If I were a North American or British Jew, I would wash my hands of this violent affair.
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About the author
Iman Najjar-Annab a second generation Palestinian in exile, was born in London and lived most of her life in Europe and the Middle East. She is a professional researcher interested in community engagement and an activist for Palestinian human rights in the Occupied Territories. Iman is currently based in Toronto where she is completing an M.Ed in Social Justice Education. She hopes to return to Palestine to educate young people on matters of social justice.
Source Article from http://www.intifada-palestine.com/2016/02/56992/
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