Now you can leave our country and come back after decades getting all those benefits you would not have gotten otherwise.

Glad to have you back!

ripped off countless people with sheputzim and in general made assholes of themselves. Now they are returning to you where they will suck off the system as long as possible and then come back here to wreck more havoc. If you think I am being unfair donuts to coffee there are tons of people over here who say the same. Point being if they were doing well here they wouldnt go back in order to eat humous. I wish em luck...Better yet I wish you in Isreal luck.

What benefits? Joke.My friend and his family returning after 20 years in US.It will cost them twice more to return then what they will get in tax breaks.

Instead of spending money aimed at returning yordim, it might be better to spend it on the folk in Israel, to prevent them from leaving in the first place.

it's good that mostly younger people and families are returning..i was afraid it was just going to be older retired israelis.

in academia, for example, the system actually encourages people to leaeve--salaries in israel are miniscule, thelibraries are deficient, the students come from crappy Israeli public schools (and thereby are lacking in basic skills) and departments are like fossil collections of professors who neither die nor retire--

Streamline the bureaucracy; get rid of those who don't know what "service" means; simplify the rules for opening and running a business. Increase the funding for higher education and research, so those coming with advanced degrees have a means of continuing their work. Fix your damn political system; end the payoffs to coalition partners, thus allowing for a reduction in taxes. Yes, I'm expecting miracles. But if you find second rate acceptable, that's what you'll get.

By the fact that you state "fix YOUR damn political system," I take it that you are not Israeli. Given this fact, it is most interesting to see how you like so many other Americans and American Jews in particular know what is best for Israel. Are you planning on making aliyah yourself?

I came back with my family because we wanted to. I know three other families who came back this year. For none of us did our return have anything to do with the ministry's campaign. Why do they take the credit? And why do Yediot journalists just accept what they say at face value? Did they talk to returning Israelis about how they decided to return? Ministry of Immigration? Sure....

Please allow me to make some corrections: 1- The Israelis returning home are actually the ones who failed abroad. 2- No way a discounted flight or subsidised shipment of personal effects would be a precursor for relocation, if they were doing that well. I would be encouraged to return if you've had initiated an anti racial ethnic discrimination law. Sephardic scientists are underestimated and it makes their origin stick out like a sore toe, regardless of their professional and academic achievements. Why would I put up with being treated second class citizen, when the NZ government finds me worthy of investing in?

as an ashkenazi, mr. elbaz, with all due respect, i agree with you 200%. the greatest tragedy of the israeli government since its inception has been to relegate its sephardi community either from spain or the arab nations to a second class citizens, where these ashkenasim failed to see the gifts, incredible loving family units, morals and knowledge that these seoharadi jews could have freely given israel. as an israel, i have seen the treatment the sephardi jews received in israel in the 60's, 70's and even 80's. it was a shame to treat a fellow jew differently just because he had the misfortune of living under totalitarian arab regimes who stifeled their education and potential. i am sorry for all the mistreatment that my country gave you. you deserved better. if it was not for your incredible alyah, israel could have never pulled it of. i am happy you are enjoying the fruits of your labour in a different country. each one of us dreams and needs to have his drfeams realized. congratulation on doing something about it. i am sure israel lost a very productive and valuable person. you!

People return to Israel for various personal reasons. With an estimated 50% of the population of Israel being of sephardic origin, I doubt you would stick out like a sore toe. Your self-defeating attitude would be your biggest liability along with whether you have the professional qualifications to compete against Israeli scientists for employment.

Another tragedy here is that many of these yordim marry non-Jews or else their children do, so they are lost to the Jewish people in most cases.