"For three thousand years we've been fighting for acceptance, and now that we've been accepted - it's turning around to kill us," said Jewish billionaire Sheldon Adelson.

Adelson, the main supporter of IAC and of Birthright Taglit, spoke at a Birthright gathering during the IAC conference in Washington, DC and lamented the connection between Jews feeling a real part of US citizenry after experiencing anti-Semitism for most of their history, and the skyrocketing rate of intermarriage.

“Without Birthright, there are statistics that have been proven at least twice that there’s only 42% of Jewish kids between the ages of 18 and 26 that say they marry within their religion or bring up their children Jewish,” he said.

“In another two or three generations,” warned Adelson, “there won’t be any secular Jews left. Think about that. For 3,000 years we've been fighting for acceptance, and now that we've been accepted - it's turning around to kill us.”

Birthright “is the most important program of my lifetime. All the kids that go to Birthright – the number jumps from 42% to 76%,” he added.