A recent public opinion poll indicating that many Israelis were contemplating emigration was discounted by Uzi Narkis, director of the Jewish Agency’s immigration and absorption department in an interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. He said the poll’s findings were “contrary to reality.”
The poll, conducted for the newspaper Haaretz which published the results last week showed that one of every 10 Israeli adults was seriously considering leaving the country permanently. In the age group 18-29, this applied to one in every five Israelis, the poll said. The results. Indicating nearly 11.6 percent of the population was at least weighing the pros and cons of emigration, were discussed at the Cabinet meeting early this week.
Narkis told the JTA that it was his impression that the talk about people leaving the country was “merely talk.” But he warned that such talk was dangerous and disturbing to Jews in the diaspora, especially those considering aliya.
Interior Minister Yosef Burg also discounted the poll’s findings. He said that while applications for passports rose between last Oct., when the Yom Kippur War broke out and Feb. 1974. the increase was at a steady pace and not sharp enough to support the view that more than 10% of the population was thinking of leaving.
Reminder: No Bulletin dated April 8
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
