JMintheAM - Aug 7, 2014 - Zev Gershinsky - NBN Dir of Government Processing and Advocacy

[Music] that's Moshe he did anybody notice that I'm wearing my neish bfes inlight press pass from the big flight two weeks ago did anybody notice that uh one of the most um thrilling Journeys I have been on was the the Tony Kramer noticed that I'm wearing my uh inlight pass from the neish bfish flight he didn't notice did he he did notice one of the best journeys of my life was being on the plane last summer and then again this summer with the neish benfish group that landed in Israel this year was a much different experience um I don't want to say somber it was just a bit more tempered the whole mood because of what was going on and and it was it was certainly an intimate celebration because because it was a much smaller celebration than normal at the airport we've discussed this on the air a million times already um but it was uh it was something I'll never forget Tuesday will be there for the charter flight this summer I know someone making Al on the 20th 21st is it so the 20th from America I know someone going on that group flight who's making alad that day they weren't able to make the charter flight in fact it's an entire family that's going on that group flight on the 20th um oh are y'all and Aaron are on the charter flight meaning we'll meet them in t Aviv Naomi and Vinnie Mar so the mariles and the liues are on the list of people who are going to be moving to Israel this coming Monday you would think that that in this time of ceasefire in this uncertainty in the Holy Land you would think that people would delay or postpone or cancel their Aliyah plans that's what you would think but what did we see we're eyewitnesses to the fact that nobody in July at the height of the at the time when they were recommending that neish Benish and medg Airport actually limit the celebration nobody went ahead and canell the FAA went ahead and said you're not going to be able to fly neish Benish said you can fly and what happened they flew they flew with a full plane not one cancellation by the way I wanted to book one of the people that canceled their Alia plans I felt I felt would be a great interview let's book one of the folks that actually could canceled their on the and you know what happened we couldn't find anybody we looked and search we couldn't find anybody that was willing to bpone or cancel their trip Zev gershinsky is here he's one of the people in the ne beneficial office who had confidence in all the hundreds of oin that they wouldn't postpone or cancel their flight he's director of government processing and advocacy here in the uh neish benfish headquarters in Yan I Zev gershinsky welcome to JM in the am good morning how are you am I right that you're among the handful of people in this country that were not surprised that nobody canceled or postponed their trip of course and in fact yesterday just yesterday what are we 3 four days before the flight people are knocking on the door and saying we want to join the flight one second this is a very important point you are telling me that yesterday the day after tisho with the flight being Monday people actually Express interest on getting onto that flight uh of course yep 100% people are and our flight is full then we have to tell people we have no seats left so I mean I'll tell you I I have to be careful with what I said earlier in the show there are some amazing virtuous people in our community who are willing to keep to their commitment to move to Israel and to give strength and amazing inspiration to the people who live here already it's just incredible how long are you with neish Benish this is my summer wow so you've seen a lot of alatri a lot of planes you've seen a a lot of planes a lot of Ceremonies uh and and your specific role is government processing I would guess you've seen a lot of changes in that area over the years um yeah I think that's one of the biggest challenges uh we have here um and we hope that oim have less and less of government processing government processing and and and challenges okay without without even considering that this might might be a public forum give me your assessment of how the Israeli government is doing when it comes to the topic of Aliyah how is it doing these days look in general I think that the government in Israel um they say government loves Aliah but doesn't like olim ah is that what they but uh um the truth is that we see a lot of of of very good intentions of government agencies when it comes to they definitely want to help they would definitely want to do make things e easier bureaucracy is bureaucracy and I tellim all the time you are immigrating from one from one country to another this is an immigration process we've made that point we made that point a million times if you go to any major country on this globe and you decide you want to move there there's going to be paperwork and there's going to be you know hurdles it just when it comes to Israeli government I guess you know but you know you know it's very interesting because um um we we've done surveys about uh with our to see what which government agency was the most problematic throughout the whole Aliyah process who gave you the most problem who who gave us the most uh problems come on and the answer is I should give a guess uh I don't know I don't even know who the different agencies are I so let me let me tell you the American Consulate in East Jerusalem th those are the ones that have the most the most red tape for for for o so so if you um try to compare um bureaucracy I guess American bureaucracy isn't uh uh far behind isn't far behind but um it's always the the culture Gap it's the language Gap uh which which uh um is a problem for for the O and that's why we're here maybe the consulate has trouble with some of the areas that people want to make aliat too that could be it could be although I'm just guessing I'm conjecturing although now I'm told that Zev ginski is not welcome at the American Consulate in East Jerusalem anymore that's what I just and someone just whispered that in my ear uh JM and the am we're talking about neish Benish government processing and advocacy Zev ginsky is here you know with everything you're saying I seriously don't want it to um to deter anybody or discourage anybody from starting the process uh in all seriousness although there are hurdles paperwork Etc it Still Remains a relatively smooth process and I'd love for you to emphasize that so so let let me just uh explain what we're doing for the oim coming uh on T landing on Tuesday okay um just in a nutshell just uh to understand um how hard we're working to make sure that uh uh do not feel the bureaucracy um Aliyah has two main components one is um getting Israeli citizenship um and the other one is obtaining their benefits that means we're dealing with two separate government offices getting citizenship through M Ministry of interior and getting the benefits through M Ministry of immigrant absorption um we work closely together with the both uh government offices uh in fact MIM is sending their people on the plane to make sure uh we do all the processing for the Israeli ID and for all the um citizenship a aspect um and there are no surprises we've been working uh tirelessly with um M I assume for the past month for this flight um they have all the paperwork ready um everything is there they they all they need to do now is to go on the computer and just click a button and get the two do um it's all in the system it's all ready same thing for we have all the F all the files ready for Mita at the moment we take off from JFK we give notice to M they already print your two we just saved an O 45 minutes talking to a clerk that does not understand English and he gives it to D within three minutes uh we just did that and uh we make sure the two is ready every o who comes out NE benfish flight does not need to go into any government office because we do it for you you can't do much better than that than what you just described I mean to talk about the Aliah process being a deterr uh for alah you can't make that argument anymore uh I'm ashamed to say that I'm now running I'm running out of even more excuses because you just you don't have this type of situation like it was in the old days we made this point a million times year at JM the Zeb ginsky is director of government processing and advocacy if someone's interested in making Aliah I don't know even in 2014 still right they don't have to wait till 2015 at this point I'm talking about August 2014 yeah but you're not talking about August I'm talking about August someone today decid anyone wants to make Ali in August just contact us you're going to make AUST if they want to still make Aliah this 100% even a family even a family unbelievable you've seen the process we'll make it happen you've seen the process on the uh on the benon side right you've seen how many minutes people actually spend at the desk it's what maybe 10 minutes or somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes 10 minutes for the family for they're at normally they're at the ceremony a lot longer than they are 100% And in the old days they'd be sitting there for three they were lucky I'll tell you I I could tell you my Aliyah story because I don't have one I was born in Israel but my parents um when they made Aliyah um just before I was born a few months before I was born um at least the story they tell is of a few families that made Aliyah on a certain flight come to benon and they just wait and they look for someone to mention or or to pick them up or so they waited for a few hours until someone noticed that they are right then they got processed for a few few hours um and then until they got to the it was a approximately like nine or 10 hours we're talking about a 2 hour um Max from door to door right yeah I I saw that with my own eyes in the early 90s and the late 80s I would land in Bon and people would point out to me you see those people over there in the corner sitting on their suitcases waiting for anybody to just help them with those are brand new oim and of course today they finally show up to the hero's welcome that they deserve uh Tara thank you so much for all you do for Aliah and continue good luck enjoy the flight or welcoming the flight on Tuesday we'll be there with you at the airport if someone does want to make Aliah even in the month of August they should contact NE thank you very Z ginsky director of government processing and advocacy boy he got rid of every excuse everybody has for Alia you want to make aliad August I'm going ahead and talking about 2015 he's like what are you talking about now during the summer before Labor Day Before the school year even starts come and make Aliah unbelievable uh JM and the am we at neish benfish headquarters they are the bookends of our trip nefes benfish is the bookends of our trip today Thursday from their headquarters in Jerusalem Monday or Tuesday rather from the incredible celebration no matter what the size of the celebration will be it'll be an incredible celebration coming up on Tuesday at benon airport in between we'll be at a variety of places including sto tomorrow for the big celebration join us everybody a drop behind schedule for Rabbi goldwaser his words here is Rabbi DAV goldwaser with morning good morning