Speakers who discussed Israel’s Arabs and various demographic threats facing the Jewish State painted gloomy predictions. They decried the low Jewish birthrate and the Arab belief that time will enable them to eventually democratically vote Israel out of existence as a Jewish State. This led directly into the topic of aliyah and the need to increase Jewish immigration to Israel.
Rabbi Zalman Melamed of Beit El, Dean of Yeshivat Beit El, leading member of the Yesha Council of Rabbis, and co-founder of Arutz-7 suggested that the requirement for voting in Israel be changed to incorporate more Jews who still live in exile. Rabbi Melamed stated that Jews in the Diaspora should be required to demonstrate a certain level of commitment to Israel -such as visiting a certain number of times a year - and if such requirements are met should be given the right to vote in Israel. Rabbi Melamed stated that such a change would neutralize the threat of a Jewish minority in the Knesset.
Professor Ezra Zohar, a lecturer at the Ariel Center for Public Policy, dismissed claims of the significance of birthrates, saying immigration and emigration were the two major factors dictating Israel’s demographic makeup. He scolded contemporary Israeli demographers saying, “They were educated in Europe and therefore believe that Aliyah depends on an existing situation – that nobody will leave an economically comfortable country to come to Israel – well, they are wrong!”
Zohar said that Aliyah comes in unpredictable waves and fluctuations but that one step Israel should definitely take is to stem the flow of Arab immigration into Israel, “through laws making anybody who married an Israeli into a citizen automatically, through polygamy, and all sorts of other ‘family reunification’ programs and loopholes.”
Another issue raised was the fact that the sole immigration frozen so far by Israel’s Interior Minister Avraham Poraz has been that of Jews, not Arabs. Thousands of Jews from Ethiopia, India, Peru, who practice orthodox Judaism and who often trace their roots back to the times of the First Jewish Temple have been barred from entering Israel. Deputy Absorption Minister Yuli Edelstein (Likud) backed Poraz’s move, dismissing claims that such immigrants hail from the ‘lost tribes of Israel’ in his address to the Jerusalem Conference.
“I would understand finding a long-lost cousin in Toronto – but why is it that these lost tribes always come from third-world countries,” said Edelstein, himself an immigrant from the Former Soviet Union.
Deputy Minister Edelstein’s remarks drew a sharp response from Michael Freund, Director of Amishav and an Arutz-7 radio and television host. “I am proud that I chose to come to live in Israel,” said Freund, “but I am sometimes very disappointed with the attitude of the Israeli government toward Aliyah.”
Freund outlined the plight of the thousands of B’nei Menashe, observing Judaism fully and waiting in northern India to immigrate to Israel. Before the current moratorium initiated by the Interior Minister hundreds of Bnei Menashe immigrated, undergoing Orthodox conversions and serving in the IDF. “Any normal state would bring such people home immediately” Freund lamented. “It may offend some, but the fact is that if we were talking about the same number of white people in Russian, under similar conditions, even Yuli Edelstein would raise his voice.”
Daniella Weiss, the moderator of the session dealing with Jewish immigration and birthrate, concluded with a passionate call for massive Aliyah. “I have a dream – a recurring dream,” said Weiss, who is mayor of the town of Kedumim in the Shomron, “that one day there will be 1000 airplanes – each one of them filled with 400 olim (Jewish immigrants), tying up the world’s airways. 400,000 new olim will not solve the demographic problem but the world will gasp and will realize that we Jews have not given up on our dream of a complete ingathering of the exiles in the end of days. That is my dream and I know we will live to see it.”
Rabbi Zalman Melamed of Beit El, Dean of Yeshivat Beit El, leading member of the Yesha Council of Rabbis, and co-founder of Arutz-7 suggested that the requirement for voting in Israel be changed to incorporate more Jews who still live in exile. Rabbi Melamed stated that Jews in the Diaspora should be required to demonstrate a certain level of commitment to Israel -such as visiting a certain number of times a year - and if such requirements are met should be given the right to vote in Israel. Rabbi Melamed stated that such a change would neutralize the threat of a Jewish minority in the Knesset.
Professor Ezra Zohar, a lecturer at the Ariel Center for Public Policy, dismissed claims of the significance of birthrates, saying immigration and emigration were the two major factors dictating Israel’s demographic makeup. He scolded contemporary Israeli demographers saying, “They were educated in Europe and therefore believe that Aliyah depends on an existing situation – that nobody will leave an economically comfortable country to come to Israel – well, they are wrong!”
Zohar said that Aliyah comes in unpredictable waves and fluctuations but that one step Israel should definitely take is to stem the flow of Arab immigration into Israel, “through laws making anybody who married an Israeli into a citizen automatically, through polygamy, and all sorts of other ‘family reunification’ programs and loopholes.”
Another issue raised was the fact that the sole immigration frozen so far by Israel’s Interior Minister Avraham Poraz has been that of Jews, not Arabs. Thousands of Jews from Ethiopia, India, Peru, who practice orthodox Judaism and who often trace their roots back to the times of the First Jewish Temple have been barred from entering Israel. Deputy Absorption Minister Yuli Edelstein (Likud) backed Poraz’s move, dismissing claims that such immigrants hail from the ‘lost tribes of Israel’ in his address to the Jerusalem Conference.
“I would understand finding a long-lost cousin in Toronto – but why is it that these lost tribes always come from third-world countries,” said Edelstein, himself an immigrant from the Former Soviet Union.
Deputy Minister Edelstein’s remarks drew a sharp response from Michael Freund, Director of Amishav and an Arutz-7 radio and television host. “I am proud that I chose to come to live in Israel,” said Freund, “but I am sometimes very disappointed with the attitude of the Israeli government toward Aliyah.”
Freund outlined the plight of the thousands of B’nei Menashe, observing Judaism fully and waiting in northern India to immigrate to Israel. Before the current moratorium initiated by the Interior Minister hundreds of Bnei Menashe immigrated, undergoing Orthodox conversions and serving in the IDF. “Any normal state would bring such people home immediately” Freund lamented. “It may offend some, but the fact is that if we were talking about the same number of white people in Russian, under similar conditions, even Yuli Edelstein would raise his voice.”
Daniella Weiss, the moderator of the session dealing with Jewish immigration and birthrate, concluded with a passionate call for massive Aliyah. “I have a dream – a recurring dream,” said Weiss, who is mayor of the town of Kedumim in the Shomron, “that one day there will be 1000 airplanes – each one of them filled with 400 olim (Jewish immigrants), tying up the world’s airways. 400,000 new olim will not solve the demographic problem but the world will gasp and will realize that we Jews have not given up on our dream of a complete ingathering of the exiles in the end of days. That is my dream and I know we will live to see it.”