A decisive difference of opinion on the issue of American Jewish immigration to Israel was the focal point of the closing session of the 14th annual American-Israel Dialogue sponsored by the American Jewish Congress. A. B. Yehoshua, a leading Israeli author, argued that American Jews had created a “demialiya” through tourism, philanthropy, and political activity that made immigration to Israel unnecessary.
“We shake hands, American Jewry and Israel. It is a warm and friendly grasp. But because you find your Jewish needs fulfilled without coming to live in Israel, you are a threat to me. And so I will pull my hand away, in order to pull you toward me,” Yehoshua said.
Many of the dialogue participants took his statements to task. Sociologist Bernard Reisman of Brandeis University claimed that “what troubles me is that we in the diaspora take you in Israel seriously, but you do not take us seriously… Jewry needs a diaspora alongside Israel…we need each other to nourish a common base.” AJCongress president Howard Squadron also stressed the importance of the U.S. Jewish community. He suggested that aliya, however, must not be the acid test of Jewish commitment.
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