On Independence Day, Herzog Urges Priority for Immigrants’ Absorption

President Chaim Herzog exhorted Israelis on Monday to treat the absorption of immigrants “as the most pressing challenge in our list of national priorities.”

“We must divert to it the energies of our very best people,” he said in a nationally televised Independence Day address.

In that connection, the president alluded to shortcomings in the absorption process, stating flatly that Israel seems not to have been prepared for the massive influx of olim, mainly from the Soviet Union.

As the country celebrated the 42nd anniversary of its independence, the president reminded it of the “miracle of the opening of the gates” of the Soviet Union to Jewish emigration.

“Yet sadly, even this marvelous hour vouchsafed to us by history is not free of difficulties and shortcomings,” he said.

“The Arab world, to be sure, has united in opposition to aliyah — the soul and essence of Zionism. But we, for our part, discover shortcomings in our own ranks — unnecessary difficulties, defects, neglect.

“Inevitably, one wonders how we were not prepared for the massive aliyah that we knew to be imminent,” Herzog said. He cautioned against treating the aliyah as simply routine.

“Very rarely does history grant us great opportunities,” he said. “we must recognize its generosity today and exploit it to the full, for we cannot know what tomorrow will bring.

“One thing is certain: Jewish history will never forgive us if we fail to live up to the greatness of this hour,” Herzog said.

Most Israelis took advantage of Monday’s mild weather to spend the holiday in picnics in the country or at the beaches.

But with the unresolved political situation on many minds, many people participated in mass demonstrations for electoral reform, which took place in the Knesset rose garden in Jerusalem and in the square outside City Hall in Tel Aviv.