Emigration: Major Israel Problem

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

dependent country now leave it WJC Denies Silence on Jewry in USSR
By ELIAHU SALPETER • I North America, it would prob-
ably equal, if not exceed, the again, to return to the l" e of
charged Sunday that the
amount of dollars received from members of a minority in the TEL AVIV (JTA) — The Israeli sian Jews, supporting a campaign of
of
diaspora.
Israelis
know
that
they
executive
of
the
World
Jewish
Con-
WJC
was
JERUSALEM — The . hottest
the United States in the form
prevent the attraction of a gress rejected Monday a charge silence on the issue. Itzhak Korn,
,
issue in Israel today, besides the private and governmental aid. cannot
the political commit-
But what hurts Israelis more ' good life overseas. But they fran- from Israeli sources that the WJC chairman
of WJC Israeli executive,
perennial discussion on the achieve-
of the the
ments andior failures of Premier than financial considerations is tically search to provide would-be approved a "conspiracy of silence" tee denying
charge, said that the
Eshkors government in general, the idea that Jews, who after mil- immigrants competitive attractions concerning the situation of Russian in
of Russian Jewry had always
to stay Jewry.
plight
is the question of emigration. lenia of dispersion and persecu- that would induce them
Maoz, the Organization for Rus- been a major concern off the WJC.
Many experts attribute to it an tion finally came to their own in- here.
important role among the factors
of the present economic recession.
Many see . it primarily as a threat
to the future development of Is-
rael as a modern. technologically
advanced nation. But. primarily,
with most Israelis, it is a most
sensitive emotional issue.
Just as the automobile industry
in the United States is considered
both an indicator and major fac-
tor of economic boom or recession,
so is in Israel the building in-
dustry.
In the past. immigration was
the prime source and life-blood of
the boom in, building industries.
Newcomers needed houses to live
to work in.
1
in, factories or s.lops
Providing this gave business to
tens of thousands of oldtimers who
could also move into newer apart-
ments. buy new furniture. trade in
their old refrigerator for a new
one. and so on. The reduced vol.
inne of immigration in the past
three years began to he felt eco-
nomically only in 1966. Not only
was there no rising demand for
new houses. but every emigrant
leaving meant another vacant apart-
ment. another losing grocery store.
used car or refrigerator offered
for sale.
Emigration. of course. was al-,
ways part of the picture both in
Palestine. before the establishment
of the State. and in Israel, after
independence. It is a most natural
phenomenon for every country of
mass immigration — as American
history can best prove that
some of the newcomers fail to get
integrated in the new country and
either go hack to the old one or
move on, in search of yet another
place.

Chief JTA Correspondent in Israel
(Copyright. 1966, JTA, Inc.)

4

i 8—Friday, December 30, 1966

Total figures for the past 15

years or so indicate that the
percentage of those new immi-
grants who left Israel is actually
much, much lower than, for ex-
ample, the percentage of those
who returned to their old home-
land from America, during the
years of mass immigration
there.
however. there are several dif-
ferences between the two cases.
and that is what worries many
Israelis. First of all. it is esti-
mated that in 1965 and 1966 more
people emigrated from this coun-
try than entered it. This. in itself.
is not so had: there were years
when more people emigrated from
the United States than immigrated
to it What is really of grave con-
cern is the type of people who
leave Israel these days.
Skilled workers go mainly to
Canada while engineers. doctors.
chemists and physicists go mainly
to the t•nited States. The loss to
Israel is a double one. These are.
in great majority. not people who
brought to Israel such skills. The
carpenters. electricians or factory
foremen who go to Canada came
here from North Africa or Eastern
Europe without such skills. Israel
spent tens if not hundreds, of
millions of dollars (much of it.
ironically. received from America )
to teach them their. trades. The
professions going to the U.S. are
mostly voting people, many even
horn in Israel. and it cost the
country tens ofthousands of dol-
lars each to give them a university
ethical ion.
Some Israeli economists go as
far as to claim that if one would
add up the value of professional
skills "exported" from Israel to

Heads Athletic Union

David A. Matlin. Los Angeles
member of the national health and
physical education committee of
the National Jewish Welfare Board,
is the new president of the Ama-
teur Athletic Union of the U.S., the
first Jew to head this major ama-
teur sports body.