Yesterday Phil posted on the Israeli government-paid ad that says intermarried Jews in the United States are "lost." It ends up it’s not just an advertising campaign, but a full fleged effort to get family members to turn in their "abducted" family members to Israeli government offices. Haaretz reports:
A day after mounting a scare-tactic campaign to prevent the assimilation of Diaspora Jews, the Prime Minister’s Office and Jewish Agency received some 200 calls, most of them reporting names of Jews living abroad. . .
The campaign, which launched on Wednesday, urges Israelis to report the particulars of acquaintances living abroad so that these people, who are "in danger" of marrying non-Jews, can be persuaded to come to Israel. . .
About 100 of the callers reported unmarried Jews aged 18-30 living in France, the United States and New Zealand. Callers also left their acquaintances’ Facebook and Twitter names as well as email addresses so that MASA people could contact them.
According to Haaretz, the end of the ad asks anyone who "’knows a young Jew living abroad" to call MASA. "Together, we will strengthen his or her bond to Israel, so that we don’t lose them." The campaign is not just focused on intermarriage, but living outside of Israel in general. Assimilation is regarded as a "strategic national threat."
Why does this entire story just make me think that Eric Bana and the Munich crew is going to steal me off the street in New York and whisk me off to Tel Aviv? The number crunchers in Israel are certainly starting to look desperate.
