← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Walter Yannis
Thread ID: 15983 | Posts: 2 | Started: 2004-12-15
2004-12-15 09:57 | User Profile
[URL=http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=18&u=/ap/israel_immigration]U.S. Jewish Immigration to Israel on Rise [/URL]
Tue Dec 14, 1:59 PM ET Middle East - AP
By STEVE WEIZMAN, Associated Press Writer
JERUSALEM - After years of stagnation, American Jewish immigration to Israel is on the rise again, with the number of people arriving this year expected to approach a 20-year-high, immigration officials said Tuesday.
In the first 10 months of the year, 2,240 Americans exercised their right to automatic Israeli citizenship, compared with 2,385 for the whole of 2003, the Jewish Agency, a quasi-governmental organization, said.
With at least 450 more people expected to immigrate by the end of 2004, the annual total will easily surpass last year's, and could beat the 2,827 immigrants from the United States that came in 1984, officials said. Jewish Agency chief Sallai Meridor said the trend was expected to continue.
"I hope the day is not far off when we can speak of 5,000, hopefully even 10,000 immigrants every year," he said.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s ââ¬â following Israel's military success in the 1967 Middle East War ââ¬â between 6,000 and 8,000 Jewish Americans immigrated annually. The number plummeted following the 1973 war, when Israel was caught by surprise and suffered heavy casualties.
Officials at Tuesday's news conference cited various reasons for the resurgence, including success stories filtering home from earlier American immigrants, more work by American and Israeli Jewish organizations to encourage immigration, an expanded Israeli job market and the steep cost of U.S. universities.
Economist Pinchas Landau said the U.S. immigrants brought valuable education, professional experience and work ethics to Israel.
"They are the creme de la creme of the most advanced society in the world," he said, adding that within their first year, 70 percent of the newcomers had found jobs.
Meanwhile, Jewish immigration from France ââ¬â where anti-Semitic incidents are on the rise ââ¬â has reached its highest level in more than three decades.
The Jewish Agency said 2,236 French Jews immigrated between January and the end of October 2004, up from 1,860 during the same period in 2003 and higher than the full-year figure for any year since 1972 when 2,356 French immigrants arrived.
France has experienced a recent wave of anti-Semitic incidents, coinciding with the four-year round of violence between Israelis and Palestinians. French Interior Ministry figures show 510 anti-Jewish acts or threats in the first six months of 2004 ââ¬â compared with 593 for all of 2003.
There has also been growing friction between the 600,000-member French Jewish community ââ¬â the third-largest in the world ââ¬â and France's Muslim population of almost 5 million.
Meridor was reluctant to link the rise in French immigration to "the recent developments in France."
"We don't want any Jew in any country, anywhere, feeling uncomfortable," he said. "We don't want any Jew to come to Israel because he is uncomfortable anywhere (else)."
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) sparked a diplomatic row in July when he told visiting Jewish-American leaders that France was host to "the wildest anti-Semitism."
"If I have to advocate to our brothers in France, I will tell them one thing: Move to Israel, as early as possible," he said.
The French Foreign Ministry called the remarks "unacceptable." French President Jacques Chirac called on Sharon to explain his remarks and said that until he did so, Sharon would not be welcome in France.
Israeli media later reported that Chirac sent a message to Israeli President Moshe Katsav saying he considered the incident closed.
2004-12-26 12:56 | User Profile
While it is sad to see our land Israel fall to this counterfeit group of Jews. It is better than having them in our schools where our children cannot be openly Christian because the Jew would be offended. Where we must ban the Bible and Gods word from the streets. Where we must not say "Merry Christmas" in case a Jew walks past and is offended.
At least the enemy would be further away from us, even if it means we sacrafice our own land that God Gave us