Interview with Querido141 I was born in Monte Caseros, Argentina. My father’s parents are originally from Poland and they immigrated to Argentina in the early 1900s, while my mother’s family lived in Argentina for many generations. My father is Jewish and my mother is Christian, but I grew up in a secular environment; we as a family never practiced either of the two religions. In August 2006, I was 26 years old, I had just completed my university studies, could not find a proper employment and my financial situation was bad. A mentor introduced me to the idea of traveling to Israel and applying for Aliyah.142 Even though I am not myself Jewish, I inherited eligibility through my father. In December of the same year, I arrived at Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv where a representative from the Jewish Agency welcomed me. The representative took me to a bureaucratic office and they issued me a legal document entitling me to Israeli citizenship and the residency card. The procedure was very quick and I received my Identity Card a few days later. I was housed in the Ulpan, an educational institute/residential school for the first month of my stay. There I took three Hebrew courses and after that I enrolled in a Master degree in Security Systems at the University of Bar Ilan. All these resources were free of charge. The Ulpan The Ulpan wasn’t only a place to study Hebrew, but to meet and interact with others. There were roughly 150 young guys and girls from all over the world, and we lived together for five months. All our needs were taken care of. We had many parties and social activities. It was a significant experience for me since it was the first time that I crossed the ocean and met people from different places and origins. As I came here with only 300 US Dollars it was a great economic opportunity where most of the experience was paid for, including a monthly stipend which I received for two years. The primary purpose of the Ulpan is to assist new citizens to be integrated as quickly as possible into the social, cultural and economic life of their new “home”, by providing education on Hebrew language, Israeli culture, history and geography. Most of the people there didn’t know anything about the conflict or occupation. We believed whatever we were told. For example, we were told that Palestinians are terrorists and that we should not get in contact with them. We were told that the Israelis are innocent victims who seek peace, but there is no partner from the other side. We were taught these doctrines through lectures, discussions, reading materials, music and other cultural events or excursions. This consumed a considerably huge amount of time of the actual schedule in the Ulpan. 141 Querido Gonzales (32), Jerusalem, interview by BADIL, September 2013. 142 Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to Israel. 53