Gen. Uzi Narkiss, director general of the Department of immigration and Absorption of the Jewish Agency told the Zionist Organization of America’s national aliya conference yesterday that “the Jewish establishment in America is ready to discuss aliya,” He said that there is less resistance and more openness and good-will to discuss aliya among Jewish leaders than previously.
In an address at the ZOA gathering which included a panel discussion by a group of aliya specialists, Narkiss said that the number one reason for the decline in aliya was the day-to-day and total security problems in the Middle East.
While he noted that another reason for the drop in aliya was that the standard of living in Israel is lower than the U.S., Narkiss pointed out that “unless one is highly committed and highly motivated to go and to live in Israel, he Just does not go,” He said that “we are trying to find ways to increase the awareness and to try to make aliya the responsibility of Jews in America.”
Henry H. Silverman, chairman of the ZOA’s national aliya committee, said his organization was holding aliya conferences throughout the U.S. to intensify the activities of Jewish communities toward that goal. He said that the local communities must organize themselves “to educate the Jewish public to the opportunities in Israel and to the possibilities of creating a full and satisfying Jewish life there.” He added: “it is time for the American Jewish community to make aliya a number one priority in its activity.”
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.
