Narkiss Rejects Zionist Leader’s View About Failure of Aliya Efforts

Uzi Narkiss, head of the Jewish Agency’s immigration department, replied indirectly here today to a prominent local Zionist leader who recently expressed to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency the view that “Aliya Month” would produce no immigrants and who was sharply critical of Jewish Agency and World Zionist Organization methods in Latin America. Narkiss, who will be visiting Rosario, Mendoza and Bahia Blanca in addition to Buenos Aires in connection with “Aliya Month” that begins tomorrow spoke at a luncheon given him by the Argentine Zionist Organization.

He described the effort to stimulate aliya as a “total mobilization” of all Israeli Embassies, emissaries and local supportive organizations to reach a maximum number of Jews “with whom otherwise we have no contact whatsoever.” He said “Aliya Month” was conceived before the Yom Kippur War and was being carried out in spite of opposition from some quarters.

“Even if no lines form at our offices for immigration, it is an important Zionist action and its success will not be measured in numbers of olim but in terms of Judaism and Zionism,” Narkiss said. He conceded that absorption problems in Israel were difficult, but said, “You should not think we don’t care about this.”

Narkiss sharply criticized a recent article in the Israeli daily Haaretz which predicted a very high percentage of “yordim”–Israelis who permanently leave Israel. According to Narkiss, Haaretz’s figures were exaggerated. He noted that the Interior Ministry has reported no increase in passports issued and the frontier police report no more departures from Israel than normal. He said the average emigration was about 10 percent for all immigrant groups–less than one percent for Soviet Jews and about 20 percent for American Jews.