About 7000 of the estimated 300,000 Israelis living abroad are expected to return to Israel this year with the help of the World Zionist Organization. This was estimated in a 16-page report by a special WZO unit dealing with returning Israelis. The unit is headed by Eli Paz who is also the advisor to Yosef Almogi, chairman of the WZO Executive.
The report, which was discussed by the WZO Executive yesterday, noted that the proportions of returning Israelis among all Jews settling in Israel has been going up. Yordim accounted for 26.6 percent in 1973 and reached nearly 45 percent last year. The returning Israeli is likely to be in his thirties, with a better-than-average education and a professional in the fields of engineering, science or the liberal arts.
The report estimated that 30 percent of the yordim were sabras (native-born Israelis), more than 50 percent were born in Europe or the Western Hemisphere and 20 percent are from Africa and Asia.
Almogi said that 85 percent of the yordim continue to identify themselves as Israelis living abroad temporarily who expect to return home. He said because of the decline in aliya, the yordim must be regarded as a valuable source of settlers. Almogi urged the public not to label them as deserters since this might alienate them. He was apparently hinting at criticism of the yordim by Premier Yitzhak Rabin.
Leon Dulzin, WZO treasurer, drew a distinction between Israelis who left before the Six-Day War because of economic conditions and those who left after 1967 when conditions were better but wanted to seek adventure. He opposed helping the yordim organize themselves abroad since this might give their continued absence from Israel a mark of legitimacy.
MATERIAL AID TO YORDIM DISCUSSED
Members of the WZO Executive differed on whether to provide material help for returning Israelis. Prof. Raanan Weitz, head of the WZO’s settlement department, said the returning Israelis should be given information about conditions in Israel but not any privileges not enjoyed by Israel is who never left the country.
But, Joseph Klarman, head of youth aliya, said that many of the returning yordim had served in the army and contributed much to the country, and thus deserved help. Andre Nabroni, head of the Sephardi communities department, said that most of the Oriental Jews who left Israel charged that there was discrimination against them. Even if the charges are not true, “the mere fact that they were raised requires us to show them they were wrong,” he said.
Avraham Shenker, head of the information and organization department, admitted that there are a substantial number of yordim in senior positions in the Zionist Federations throughout the world. He said that while they can make contributions, it would be unwise to allow them to take part in the efforts to encourage aliya since they are hardly good examples.
Almogi said while yordim should not be attacked, they should not be employed by WZO agencies. He also opposed helping them organize since “any organization may make staying abroad easier for the yordim and we want them back in 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.
