A delegation of new immigrant students from AMIT Bar Ilan High School for Boys, Netanya, met recently with Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin at his residence in Jerusalem. AMIT Bar Ilan Netanya has welcomed a significant number of new immigrant students from France in the past two years, in the wake of increased anti-Semitic incidents in Toulouse and Paris. Accompanied by their teachers and principal, thirty young people from France had the honor of meeting the President of Israel. Among the students who participated was Joseph Murdock, a high school sophomore who survived of the attack in Toulouse two years ago. A few months after the terrorist attack on the Jewish school Joseph attended, he and his family left France, moved to Israel and settled in Netanya. President Rivlin was very moved by the encounter with Joseph and his friends and even managed to speak with them in French.
Netanya Mayor Miriam Feirberg-Ikar is pleased and proud that immigrants from France have chosen Netanya. “The City of Netanya will continue to invest resources in order to optimally absorb and integrate new immigrants in all walks of life,” said the mayor. Rabbi Yuval Elimelech, principal of AMIT Bar Ilan Netanya, said, “We believe that immigrants strengthen the State of Israel and Israeli society. We do all we can to assist in the absorption of immigrant students and their families, during and after school hours.”
