Members of the Nefesh B'Nefesh aliyah flight on the runway at Ben Gurion airport Aug. 14. Photo: Nefesh B'Nefesh.

A headline in Egyptian media read “The Israeli Army Recruits 127 People from North Korea” on Tuesday.  The headline, which was accompanied by numerous articles in Egyptian newspapers and on Egyptian websites, mistook 127 North American Jews who arrived in Israel on Tuesday to join the Israel Defense Forces, as  North Koreans.

Newspapers who reported the story, including El-Masry el-Youm, el Shorouk, Akhbar el-Youm, and el-Mashhad, cited their sources as the Jerusalem Post and MENA, Egypt’s state-run news agency.  Neither publication reported that North Koreans were joining the IDF.

350 North Americans landed in Israel after choosing to emigrate to Israel, and were welcomed by their new country’s prime minister upon arriving in Tel Aviv.

“This is the land where we all come from,” Netanyahu continued. “This is the land where our ancestors lived and this is the place where our identity as a people was forged. This is the country where the Jewish people are building the Jewish future. Each of the 350 people who made aliyah today have decided to link their personal future with the future of the Jewish state and the Jewish people.”