Tsur Chides U.S. Jewish Leaders for Ignoring Aliya and ‘neshira’

Minister of Absorption Yaacov Tsur chided American Jewish leaders Tuesday for ignoring basic problems that have beset Israel for years — lack of aliya from the West and “neshira,” Soviet Jews who settle in the West, mainly the U.S. instead of Israel.

Those problems have been “pushed aside for many years” by the American Jewish community, Tsur told a visiting delegation of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. He said if “neshira” (dropouts) continues, “the gates of the Soviet Union will be slammed shut again.”

Tsur suggested that the U.S. abolish the refugee status automatically given Jews who emigrate from Russia and called for the establishment of direct flights from the USSR and Eastern bloc countries to Israel. That would eliminate the transit station in Vienna where Soviet Jews have the choice of going to Israel or to the West.

Direct flights are a matter that must be resolved with the Soviet authorities. The elimination of refugee status for Jewish emigres was urged by Premier Yitzhak Shamir when he visited Washington last month. He was rebuffed by the Reagan Administration on grounds of freedom of choice.

Tsur said that in addition to the problem of Soviet Jews, his Ministry has devoted enormous resources over the past two years to the integration and settlement of 16,000 Jewish immigrants from Ethiopia. He said this involved moving them from absorption centers to permanent homes, educating them and finding them jobs.

Tsur said he wanted to phase out the protectionist and paternalistic system as quickly as possible to hasten the absorption of the Ethiopian Jews into Israeli society. The youths have all been placed in mainstream educational institutions and those able to work have been employed, Tsur said.