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.
