The Jewish Agency has begun to expand and streamline its operations in Argentina in light of the mushrooming demand by Argentine Jews to immigrate to Israel. Some 1,500 Jews have applied for immigration information in the past two weeks. Jewish Agency Chairman Sallai Meridor, who paid a fact-finding mission to Argentina this week, reported afterwards that the economic situation of the 200,000-strong Argentine Jewish community is very grave. “Lack of hope abounds,\" he said. \"Twenty thousand former middle-class businessmen and professionals are reduced to accepting hand-outs at food kitchens. Many more are ashamed to ask for food. The Jewish educational system, once the best in South America, is in disarray, and we do not know how many children will return to school after the summer vacation, which will end in March.\" Meridor reported that there has been \"an upsurge in interest throughout Argentina to immigrate to Israel. Our informational meetings have been packed with hundreds of applicants.\"
Meridor enumerated other steps that the Agency has taken to meet the situation. In addition to mobilizing all emissaries and local employees in Argentina for the task of processing immigrants, short-term emergency aliyah emissaries have been sent to Argentina for periods of two weeks to two months as a \"reserve force,\" and more local workers have been hired. “We will set up new offices and be available wherever Jews reside,\" Meridor promised. \"We will reach out to rural areas where some 45,000 Jews reside. We shall launch a telephone campaign to reach out to some 20,000 families... We shall focus on students and graduates of youth movements.\"
Fifty Israeli mayors have already pledged their support to take in immigrants and assist them in finding employment. The immigrants will receive an absorption allocation similar to that given those who arrived from the former Soviet Union, including favorable mortgages, courses of study, social security pensions, scholarships, rent assistance, as well as a $2,500 Jewish Agency grant and a housing allowance of $20,000. Meridor quoted a recent Jewish Agency survey that revealed that 80% of Israeli Jewish adults favor increasing government expenditure to promote and aid immigration to Israel. \"The people of Israel believe in aliyah,” he said. He noted that France and South Africa also constitute important potentials for immigration, and the Jewish Agency plans to increase its expenditures there by 30% and 90%, respectively.
Meridor enumerated other steps that the Agency has taken to meet the situation. In addition to mobilizing all emissaries and local employees in Argentina for the task of processing immigrants, short-term emergency aliyah emissaries have been sent to Argentina for periods of two weeks to two months as a \"reserve force,\" and more local workers have been hired. “We will set up new offices and be available wherever Jews reside,\" Meridor promised. \"We will reach out to rural areas where some 45,000 Jews reside. We shall launch a telephone campaign to reach out to some 20,000 families... We shall focus on students and graduates of youth movements.\"
Fifty Israeli mayors have already pledged their support to take in immigrants and assist them in finding employment. The immigrants will receive an absorption allocation similar to that given those who arrived from the former Soviet Union, including favorable mortgages, courses of study, social security pensions, scholarships, rent assistance, as well as a $2,500 Jewish Agency grant and a housing allowance of $20,000. Meridor quoted a recent Jewish Agency survey that revealed that 80% of Israeli Jewish adults favor increasing government expenditure to promote and aid immigration to Israel. \"The people of Israel believe in aliyah,” he said. He noted that France and South Africa also constitute important potentials for immigration, and the Jewish Agency plans to increase its expenditures there by 30% and 90%, respectively.