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The first chartered Aliyah flight of 2009 is set to arrive in Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday. The arrival will be broadcast live on Israel National News as it takes place, beginning at 12:30 a.m. EST / 9:30 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.

Two hundred and thirty-two olim (new immigrants) from the United States and Canada are aboard the flight. The immigrants are the first of 3,000 from North America and the United Kingdom to arrive this summer, on the first of 15 chartered Aliyah flights sponsored by Nefesh B’Nefesh and the Jewish Agency.

Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky and Minister of Immigrant Absorption Sofa Landver will be present to greet the new Israelis.

Flight to Include Gilad Shalit’s Namesake
One of the new arrivals will be three-year-old Gilad Zuller, who is traveling with parents Yehuda and Aviva and his three older siblings. Gilad was named for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped one week before his birth.

After Gilad Zuller was given his name, Yehuda wrote to Noam Shalit and expressed hope that their two sons would meet in the near future. During Yehuda’s next trip to Israel, in which he distributed donations during the Second Lebanon War, Noam Shalit drove to Kiryat Shemona to meet him.

The Zuller family has met with Shalit’s parents Noam and Aviva several times since then, in both Israel and New York. The Shalit family plans to greet the Zullers Tuesday as they arrive in Israel.

The Zuller family will settle in Maaleh Adumim, near Jerusalem.

Olim Include Children, Soldiers, One Cat
Forty percent of the new arrivals are children, the youngest a mere seven weeks old. Tuesday’s flight will also include 60 singles.

Twenty-two of the new arrivals plan to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces. Others will begin jobs in fields ranging from advertising to photography to medicine.

Several of the new immigrants plan to bring their beloved pets along for the journey. Seven dogs and one cat are on board the Nefesh B’Nefesh flight, heading for their new home in Israel.

Among the 232 arrivals are those hailing from 19 American states and the Canadian city of Quebec. The immigrants are heading for new homes throughout Israel, from the village of Chispin in the Golan Heights to kibbutzim (cooperative communities) in the south.