Inducements for Yordim to Return

A special committee headed by Labor MK Aviad Yaffe has recommended a series of benefits and privileges to be offered by the government to induce yordim to return home. Yordim are Israelis who have lived abroad for two years or longer. Their present number is estimated at about 200,000, most of them living in the United States.

The recommendations, which were submitted to Absorption Minister Shlomo Rosen and Jewish Agency chairman Pinhas Sapir, include many benefits similar to those granted new immigrants but unavailable to native Israelis, The committee said they were intended to make the repatriation of Israelis easier but stressed that there was no intention to grant yordim “special privileges just because they lived abroad.” The recommendations are expected to be adopted.

They include customs duty exemptions as high as IL 5000 on goods the yordim bring with them when they return; and exemption from the sales tax on such items as refrigerators, washing machines, cooking stoves and television sets purchased in Israel. Such appliances brought in from abroad will, however, be subject to duties.

Returning Israelis who have lived abroad for at least two years will also be entitled to customs and sales tax exemptions on personal belongings such as clothing, used working tools, portable typewriters, cameras and kitchen utensils. Returning students will enjoy the same benefits if they have been abroad for 20 months and return to Israel immediately after completing their studies.

COMMITTEE TO STUDY NEEDS

The recommendations include the establishment of a committee to study the needs of returning Israelis on an individual case basis. It will be authorized to grant IL 20-IL 60,000 mortgages toward the purchase of an apartment on the same terms granted new immigrants. The size of the mortgages will be determined by the size of the returning families, their economic situation, requested place of residence and the length of time they lived abroad.

Returnees who commit themselves to live in new development areas will be eligible for special assistance, as will those whose professions or skills are considered vital to the country’s welfare. Israelis living abroad will be able to participate in the government’s housing savings program. After seven years they will receive a loan equivalent to the sum saved, not exceeding IL 30,000, for the purchase of a 75 square meter apartment.

The committee also recommended that young couples who were married after Oct. 1, 1969 should be allowed to register for special housing programs at the regional offices of the Jewish Agency’s immigration and absorption department if they return from abroad. They will be required to exercise their privilege within one year. Special assistance was also recommended for returning Israelis who have difficulties finding suitable jobs.

The committee prefaced its recommendations with the statement that “The vision of the return to Zion places as a central target the concentration of as many Jews as possible in Israel. The return of Israelis who have stayed overseas for a long period of time is therefore one of the important ways to accomplish this end.”