Natan Sharansky wanders into the lobby of a Jerusalem hotel, speaking Russian into a cellular phone.
Short, stocky and unassuming, he is dressed casually, wearing the military cap that has become his trademark.
A man crosses his path and stops in his tracks as he recognizes the famous former Soviet Jewish activist and Prisoner of Zion, and extends his hand. “I, too, am an oleh, a veteran oleh,” he declares in Hebrew, referring to himself as an immigrant.
“Then join our movement,” says Sharansky.
Last week, at a highly publicized, well-organized conference in Tel Aviv, Sharansky launched “Yisrael ba-Aliyah” — a new ideological and political movement.
Speaking before about 200 olim activists and reporters from the Israeli and foreign media, Sharansky announced in Hebrew, then in Russian, the movement’s goals: to change Israel’s national priorities regarding aliyah — with the immediate aim of bringing an additional I million olim from the former Soviet Union — and to better use the potential of the olim already here.
The name of the movement, “Yisrael ba-Aliyah,” has two implications in Hebrew: “Israel for immigration” and “Israel moving upward.”
After Sharansky’s address, a string of speakers stood up and in the three minutes allotted them, explained their reasons for supporting the new movement.
Alexander Rubny, a young Russian man from the coastal town of Or Akiva who were T-shirt with “San Francisco” printed on it, spoke of the important role of young people in the movement. Adis from Ethiopia was received with applause as he talked of cooperation among all olim, whatever their origin. Zvi Weinberg, a veteran oleh from Canada and former activist with the Free Russian Jewry campaign, bemoaned the terrible waste of the great potential of the olim. Michael Nudelman, a councilman from Kiryat Shmona, spoke of the unpleasant stereotypes many Israelis have of olim. He also spoke of the immigrants’ eagerness to contribute.
They all stuck to the themes of aliyah and absorption, staying clear of such issues as the peace process or the relationship between synagogue and state.
The conference’s main objectives were listed in a kit each participant received upon arrival: a nationwide membership drive, election of steering committee to prepare a national convention and the naming of Sharansky as the leader of the movement that is likely to turn into a political party for next year’s elections.
This is not Sharansky’s first foray into politics. He backed away from a political party for olim just before the 1992 elections. The party, DA, went on to run anyway, but failed to win sufficient votes to put a representative in the Knesset.
Some 750,000 people from the former Soviet Union currently live in Israel, arriving mainly during two immigration waves, one during the 1970s and one since 1990.
Of these olim, an estimated 500,000 to 600,000 are eligible to vote in Israel’s 1996 national elections.
Opinion polls indicate that at least 45 percent would vote for a party representing olim. This could translate into the election of six to seven Knesset members for Sharansky’s new party, which aims for the center of Israel’s political map.
If Labor and Likud fail to win a parliamentary majority, Sharansky’s party could wield the power to determine which major party will govern the country.
Sharansky, who with his wife, Avital, has two sabra daughters, does not look 47 years old.
He explains that in Soviet prisons there was a belief that one is not completely free until one has spent as much time outside as inside the prison.
Sharansky was released nine years ago, after having spent as many years in prison. This, he says, explains his youthful looks, as he feels only 38, discounting his prison years.
He also says that “those nine years in prison helped me a lot in my nine years in Israel.”
Sharansky exudes irresistible charm, has an engaging sense of humor and a poker face. The light blue eyes that give him an aura of innocence turn steely when he thinks he is being misunderstood, or worse, misinterpreted.
He prefers to speak to a reporter in English so that his quotes do not need translating.
A leading journalist recently described him as soft on the outside and hard as a diamond on the inside.
Although Sharansky thinks that Israel is paradise and “the best place for Jews,” he said that “even in paradise you must take moral responsibility for some not good things which are happening, and try to improve this paradise.”
With the Collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Iron Curtain, Sharansky sees a historically unique opportunity to strengthen the Jewish people.
Sharansky says he wants to reshape Zionism and transform Israel from serving as a safe haven for refugees into an attractive place for prospective olim — not only those from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, but also from the United States.
“We must have an active strategy, find out what must be changed in order to become attractive to the Jews of the world,” he says.
“I believe that the more Jews will come, the quicker these changes will take place. We’ll bring another million Jews from Russia, and the country will change so much that another million American Jews will come.”
When he was still living in Russia, Sharansky says, he put Israelis on a pedestal, thinking of them almost as demigods. He laughs heartily at the suggestion that he may now see them as less than human, and is quick to deny it.
Yet he faults Israelis for their paternalistic attitude toward Diaspora Jews and olim, and for losing their “Yiddisher kop” — their Jewish smarts.
Sharansky is clearly angered by this paternalistic attitude, which may explain his refusal to join any of the major political parties, though he has been courted by all of them.
He believes that every party and most extraparliamentary movements deal mainly with the issues of peace and security, but neglect the people of Israel.
Sharansky remains noncommittal on issues other than aliyah and absorption, which are the prism through which he views most everything else.
On the questions of security and the peace process, he says, “Without the hope for peace, you cannot convince people to come here. On the other hand, without national and personal security, there can definitely not be `kibbutz galuyot’ – – the ingathering of the Jews.”
For him it is all a question of priorities. He suggests that those who believe in the concept of a Greater Israel vote for extreme right-wing parties and those who think that the Palestinians should have their own state vote for the dovish Meretz bloc.
“But if you believe that it’s very important to have a party which will strengthen the idea of building the people of Israel, I think you should join us,” he says.
Asked whether he will run for prime minister, Sharansky laughs.
“My ambition is much bigger than to run for one or another office, including the office of prime minister,” he says. “My ambition is to bring millions of Jews to Israel.”
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.
