I feel bad that this family was left with no help after all that was promised. But I also think that the Jewish Agency is wrong in "encouraging" families to make aliyah. They should only send those who on their own really want to live in Israel - for Jewish reasons. In the former Soviet Union, Jewish agency people search all over for families that had one Jewish grandparent but are usually no longer Jewish. The only reason they do this is because without bringing more new immigrants to Israel, the Jewish Agency would have no work and would have to close down. Their employees would be out of work. They have already flooded the country with over 300,000 non-Jews, most of them young and of child-bearing age. The old people are ususally Jewish. They are ruining the Jewish identity of the only Jewish country in the whole world.

The JA was wrong in promising this family things that they can't give them. However I do hope that this family is all Jewish. In the last years the majority of the olim from Russia have not been Jewish. Go to Ashdod and Ashkelon and other towns and see all the Russian churches that have opened up. Only Nefesh b'Nefesh brings Jews to Israel. The JA should be closed down.

THey also promised all olim an 'education coupon' for a professional enrichment course of our choosing, that they'd pay 80% of the cost. I've been trying for 2 years - they say there's no budget

Immigrants from the "Eastern Block" get more help than from any other country. They speak Russian which is spoken by a huge percentage of the population. Their loans become grants. They whine about 'the "broken promises" but forget that no one forced them to come to Israel and no one is forcing them to stay. You don't like it here then go back to to the country you came from and your lives of riding donkey carts instead of brand new cars, live in hovels instead of decent homes and buy what food is available and not have the choices you have here!

They don't come here for the love of the country of Judaism, they come for money and the promise of a better life - they make me cringe. They should NEVER have been allowed to take over as much as they have.

You are not a princess.Maybe leaping water.

We shouldn't go looking for olim, promising them the moon. People who really want to come to Israel and are Jewish are the only ones who should receive help, if they need it. Does America beg people to come and then give them all kinds of help and benefits? Almost no other country in the world does. We do need more people, Jews, that is. I've read that over one million Africans want to move here, even with no help nor benefits. Too bad that many Jews don't want to come. We are now getting 13,000-18,000 olim a year, most of them probably not even Jewish.

Aside from non-Jewish Russians, we also get a lot of olim from South America who are not Jewish. Some are outright Christian missionaries who go through some phoney Conservative conversion there in order to make aliyah and missionize here in Israel. They get all the financial help that all olim get. How stupid are we that we let these people in?In my opinion, we should close down the Jewish Agency who is causing more harm than good.

typical behavior of israeli offices.

And let us consider that a large percentage of Russian Immigrants were not even Jewish. As it turns out, plenty of people got grants. I know many Russians who did, and many who took those grants and left Israel. So there was a lot of betrayal going on and not from the Israeli government! And with the wave of Russians, which on the one hand i am happy about, i am not happy about the lack of screening. When my husband and i were a young couple making Alliyah from the US, there was no money to help us. My husband, a US trained doctor couldn't even get a job because most of the available jobs were given to Russians! This situation still continues 19 years later, by the way. The fact that he has medical training far above most of the Russian group does not help either. Tho i understand how sad it is to have promises broken, there are still many benefits that Russian enjoy over olim from countries like the US.

When my parents and myself decide to make aliyah in the early 60's, the JA in Paris demanded that my parents sign a form stating that they would never ask for any help, grant, or even Bituah Leumi - only then would they be given the status of new immigrant. This was said to my parents, holocaust survivors and the reason was that my father was blind, not working and the Jewish Agency was afraid that they would have these people on their "back". My parents signed because they had just received compensation from Germany as survivors and said that they did not want to be a nuisance in their new homeland. Until their last days here they never got a cent from Bituah Leumi although they had become israeli citizens and in their last days were sick. I had to pay for everything and never got to meet with anybody in the Ministry of Health or Bituach Leumi despite request after request. That was israel in 1961. The new Olim should know that here just like in Europe, Canada or the US, they have to care for themselves. Second I agree with people requesting the JA close down.