Israel’s military action in Lebanon may be causing identity problems for some of North American Jewry, but for others it has become a call to personal action, according to Moshe Shechter, director of the Israel Aliya Center of North America. He said “more files have been opened by families and individuals who wish to move to Israel during the past 30 days than any other single 30-day period in the past five years.”
Shechter, who directs a network of 22 regional centers in major population areas in the United States and Canada to assist Jews who wish to emigrate to Israel, said more than 2,500 new files were opened in the past 30 days. An average for the period, he said, would be 1,600.
Israel’s military action in Lebanon promises a new era for the Jewish State, Shechter said. “With the PLO eliminated as a terrorist force, the security aspects of life in Israel are much brighter. North American Jews sense on urgent call to become part of the new era and gain the personal advantages of living in the Jewish State,” he said.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
