Peres Exhorts American Jews to Invest in Israel, Judaism

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres wants three things from American Jews: help in absorbing immigrants, investment in the peace process and a concerted effort to keep their children Jewish.

In a news conference conducted in Hebrew on Sunday, Peres said the worsening situation in Russia, along with the improving situation in Israel, is likely to increase immigration to the Jewish state.

Donations to the United Jewish Appeal’s Operation Exodus campaign pay for the transportation of immigrants to Israel and a portion of their initial resettlement expenses.

UJA hopes to finish raising the $1.2 billion it seeks for Operation Exodus by next summer.

In a meeting with top UJA officials last month, on the day the Knesset voted to endorse the recent accord with the Palestinians, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin “asked us to get Exodus moving as fast as possible,” UJA National Chairman Joel Tauber said after returning from a 24 hour trip to Israel.

“It’s a task of the highest level,” was the way Peres described the immigrant absorption enterprise Sunday. “It is forbidden to forget it.”

The Israeli foreign minister said the second task for American Jews, investing in the peace process, reflects the fact that the process is about contacts and connections as much as it is about politics.

Peres said President Clinton set the proper course when he brought American Jewish and Arab leaders together at the White House immediately following the signing of the peace accord there Sept. 13.

Clinton asked the two groups to cooperate in joint ventures aimed at rebuilding the economies of the Gaza Strip and West Bank, to enable the Palestinians to see the fruits of peace.

MORE AFRAID OF CABLE TV THAN ARAB ARMIES

The American Jewish Congress has already announced a joint effort with the National Association of Arab Americans aimed at investing in Gaza and the West Bank town of Jericho, where Palestinian autonomy will first be implemented.

Asking American Jews to preserve their Jewish identity and to teach their children Jewish history and the Hebrew language, Peres indicated that they are not the only ones faced with preserving their Jewishness in the face of a broader culture.

“I am more afraid of cable television (which has recently begun broadcasting in Israel) than I am of Arab armies,” the foreign minister said, “because I know how to stop invading armies. I don’t know how to protect against cable television.”

In a more expansive discussion last week with the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Peres explained that cable television “comes straight into your bedroom, brings in a lot of nonsense, and I wouldn’t want to replace the series of the stories of the Bible with the series of the happenings in Dallas,” referring to the popular soap opera.

“Today I’m worried about our smallness, not for military reasons, but for cultural reasons,” he told the Conference of Presidents.

“Even if people will not come to Israel, (they should) adopt the Hebrew language, make it as a second language, so we can read the same books and share the same cultural occasions. We are the only Jewish state, with no relatives in faith, no relatives in language, no relatives in geography.”

“The best guarantee for the existence of Israel,” he said, “is the ongoing relationship between world Jewry, generally, and American Jewry, particularly.

“We are remaining partners in the business. And as we are changing the nature of our business,” with the advance toward peace, “so do you, but we don’t change the partnership.”