God bless Haaretz, it has broached an amazingly important issue: reverse aliyah.
All the Israelis who have left Israel for the U.S. Maybe close to 10 percent of the population! Dontcha think American journalism should be writing about this, and also writing about the revolving-door-graphomaniacs who are marketing Israeli rationales re the Arab world as American rationales? Jeffrey Goldberg, Michael Oren, Dore Gold, Zeev Chafets, Rahm Emanuel (ok, he's not a writer). Haaretz:
been making the United States their new home. Like many immigrants,
Israelis come to the United States to make a better life for
themselves. The allure of social and economic mobility, along a
lifestyle not dominated by the harsh realities of a never-ending war,
is enough to pull them away from the home country.
It is hard to say how many Israelis are actually living in the
United States. One estimate has it at around 130,000, another at
350,000, still a third at 600,000. While in comparison to other
immigrant communities these numbers may not seem significant, for a
country the size of Israel, the numbers are staggering. The highest
estimate means that nearly 10% of Israel's population lives abroad.
The Haaretz piece is an interview with Joel Schalit who edits a magazine called Zeek, written by good Jews. Remember Zeke from Cabin Creek? That's what they called Jerry West when he broke into basketball. He was from West Virginia. Aliyah means going up. West made aliyah to Los Angeles. What does reverse aliyah say about the core principle of Zionism: Jews are unsafe in the west? Maybe it's time to think of these things more liberally. Jews can go anywhere, and good for them. Let's honor the right of return for Palestinians who want to make aliyah.
Its the higher number.
Its not new. For a very long time it was impossible for an Israeli to emigrate out, by law.
There were exceptions, but they took special circumstances.
But, for decades there have been MANY Israeli ex-pats in the states.
Most site the physical dangers, the internally irritating politics, the very high cost of living there, and too many irritations with both orthodox and secular sabras.
And, then many find the US uncomfortable and go back.
It's a great subject. I was talking about at a new Israeli restaurant in the Hamptons with my daughter last night. She had her six month old with her, whose "other" grandmother committed reverse aliyah, and whose other grand-dad is Israeli.
According to a July, 3 article in the Forward:
"…the Jerusalem-based Menachem Begin Heritage Center found that 59% of Israelis had approached or intended to approach a foreign embassy to ask for citizenship and a passport. (Interestingly, though, only 22% acknowledged actually considering leaving the country for even a limited period of time.)"
http://www.forward.com/articles/13523/