Aliya to Israel has reached its highest in many years and some 40,000 are expected by the end of the year, according to Akiva Lewinsky, treasurer of the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization.
Lewinsky, who was in the United States for emergency meetings to discuss the pressures on Israel from the new immigration from Iran, states that youth aliya alone is already providing for 500 Iranian children, recent arrivals, and that aliya from the Soviet Union has also reached unexpected levels.
He pointed out that despite the increase in the number of Soviet Jews coming to the United States and despite the number of Iranian Jews who have come to the United States since the overthrow of the Shah, Israel remains the major country of Jewish immigrant absorption.
Lewinsky noted that over and above the greater aliya already reported, and its attendant costs, the coming peace with Egypt will add additional burdens to the Israeli economy. Further increases in aliya are expected with accelerating costs in the settlement and absorption of the new olim. In addition, “Project Renewal” assumes even greater importance for its potential impact on Israeli society in its quest for peace, he said.
WILL REQUIRE EXTRAORDINARY EFFORTS
The Agency official added that the current rate of inflation has been playing havoc with Jewish Agency budgets and that this inflation, plus the increased aliya, will require extraordinary efforts on the part of the Jews of the world to meet the regular budget of the Jewish Agency. “When we take into consideration the additional costs of Project Renewal, ” he said, “plus the obligations peace will impose, the financial requirements are even more dramatic.”
Lewinsky noted that there has been a tendency for local Jewish community needs to assume greater and greater proportions of the funds raised in the United States. “All of the campaigns are based on Israel’s needs, ” he said, “and it is in response to this emphasis that American Jews donate as freely as they do. ” He emphasized that local needs must not be met at the expense of Israel and called upon the American Jewish community “to rise to the challenge and the opportunity of the coming months.”
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