Jerusalem Post has a piece on Israel's coming demographic crisis: not enough Jews want to move to Israel. The Knesset has a committee on aliyah, or Jewish immigration, and one of the members seeks a "mental revolution" in aliyah.
[S]ignificantly increasing aliya – or at least
creating a deeper connection between Israel and the Diaspora – will
require a new effort.
"The Zionists said Israel is the only place in the world to
which Jews could flee when they're hunted," [Likud Member of Knesset Gilad Erdan] explains. "But in the
English-speaking countries, especially in the US, this threat never
materialized, and it doesn't look like it ever will." [True!]
…Beyond the new "mental revolution," the caucus will investigate more concrete ways to connect to the Diaspora.
This involves making the experience of aliya more welcoming by
removing bureaucratic obstacles, connecting olim [immigrants] to local communities
and offering new financial incentives, [Erdan] says…
"It's nice to think that all the world's Jews want to come to
Israel, and that this is enough to bring them, but it's not true," he
laments. "Surveys show that even among Israeli youth, Israel is no
longer seen as fighting for its survival, and the world has turned into
a global village offering them opportunities all over the world. But
this country is strong, modern, and we can offer competitive
incentives. This is the American model, and we don't have to be
embarrassed to use it…"
I suggest the following mental revolution. Israel and the U.S. live in a global village in which the "American model" is foremost. In that model, we do not discriminate against minorities. At present Israel has a policy in which a Jew who has spent his life in, say, Cleveland, is urged to move to Jerusalem tomorrow while countless Arabs who were born in the country and would like to make their lives there cannot do so. This is a basic problem. Most people, including Jews, like to live in societies that do not discriminate on that basis. Israel should begin to open its doors to others besides just Jews, and become a proud member of the global village.
