A group of 250 newcomers from the US and Canada, as well as 50 from the UK arrived this morning at Ben Gurion Airport.

Newscaster: A group of 250 newcomers from the US and Canada, as well as 50 from the UK arrived this morning at Ben Gurion Airport. This is the 35th flight sponsored by "Nefesh B''Nefesh" since it began its program 5 years ago. This morning''s group was met by Likud opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu who told them they are not in the only place in the world, that they own Israel. Reporter Idele Ross is in the studio and has with her Charlie Levine, spokesman for Nefesh B''Nefesh.
Idele Ross: Allow me to correct a typo first, that is, what Binyamin Netanyahu said was that they are now in the only place in the world that they own, Israel. Charlie Levine, are you with us ?
Charlie Levine: I am with you .
Idele Ross: Sorry about that typo. How many immigrants has Nefesh B''Nefesh brought to Israel thus far this summer ?
Charlie Levine: This summer we are approaching the 3,000 mark, from the United States, Canada and England .
Idele Ross: And tell us something about the demographics of the group that arrived today .
Charlie Levine: Typically, they used to say, there are 10 million stories in the naked city, and you''ve just seen 1 of them. There are a lot of individuals in this operation, and everyone has their own story. But if I had to boil it down, I would say the most essential prototype would be a youngish family in late 20''s, early 30''s, 1 kid, well educate couple who have worked already in their chosen profession for up to 5 years or so, and very very highly motivated. Following them would be younger singles, many straight into the army, into צה"ל, and then you have all kinds of other people as well, some older couples and so on. But those are I would say the 3 most typical cases .
Idele Ross: Is the weak American economy having any impact at all on interest in Aliyah amongst American Jews ?
Charlie Levine: Not in the way you would think, because certainly it does exist, it is a fragile situation there, but everyone who has plans to come is coming. I would say the only downside would be that it is becoming increasingly difficult to dispose of or to sell one''s home in American because of the down real-estate market, and that has put a crimp into certain people''s financial planning, but this is not about economics, it''s not about finances, this is about people realizing their life long dream of coming home to Israel. So if they came during the Lebanese war, if they came during the Intifada, a couple of decimal points on the stock market are going down is not gonna stop them .
Idele Ross: And it used to be that when hundreds of newcomers came from the United States and Canada it was a major even in the Israeli media. Do you sense that the interest in the groups among the Israeli public and the media seems to be tapering off somehow ?
Charlie Levine: This is our 35th flight actually since we started, and the story is a powerful one, it still is, more so today than it was in the beginning because the numbers just keep getting larger and larger. We have another, beyond the 16,000 people who have already come, we have another 20,000 who are at one stage or another of the process of coming. So we''re beginning to talk about much more serious numbers here, it''s natural that when you have 7 events at the Ben Gurion Airport in the course of several week, that the press is not going to cover everything, but I would say all in all, we''re dealing with top media in America, "New York Times", CNN that kind of thing, they are just discovering this story, and in Israel there are only something that come out of this as a good feel good story, seeing young kids faces and flags and everything, and it sort of recharges the country''s batteries a little bit .
Idele Ross: Charlie Levine, we''re gonna have to stop you there. From Nefesh B''Nefesh, thanks for talking to us .
Charlie Levine: My pleasure .