Likud MK Danny Danon welcomed 229 new English-speaking immigrants to the Jewish State on Thursday, but noted there are still more illegal aliens flooding the country than new immigrants and encouraged Jews from outside the country to consider moving back “home.”

While the arrival of the plane full of North American olim Thursday morning was being celebrated by Israelis, Danon, who is Chairman of the Knesset Aliyah Committee, said that despite the joy Israelis felt when seeing new immigrants, it was unfortunate that there were more illegal aliens infiltrating the country via the border with the Sinai Peninsula than olim entering the country via Ben Gurion International Airport.

Danon participated in the ceremony at the airport Thursday morning, as 229 people, including 100 children and 59 singles, arrived in the first chartered El Al flight of summer 2012. They are among the 2,500 olim who will be arriving this summer on Nefesh B’Nefesh aliyah flights, in full cooperation with the Jewish Agency and the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption.

Speaking at the ceremony, Danon said that “it does not make sense that each year more illegal aliens from Africa enter Israel than do Jewish olim from the entire world. We must fight to maintain the Jewish nature of the State of Israel and increase activity to raise the number of olim coming to Israel.”

Danon added that “there is no doubt that aliyah, immigration to Israel, is the victory of the Jewish people, and Nefesh B’Nefesh, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary, is an important cause for ensuring that Israel remains Jewish.”