Time to return to Israel’ ads rile American Jews

[Mark]

Time to return to Israel’ ads rile American Jews

A provocative ‘time to return’ set of advertisements created by the Israeli government and aimed at expatriates has been scrapped after outrage from American Jews.

The ads suggesting that Israeli Jews may be corrupted by Christian influence and North America cultures and urged Israeli émigrés to return, lest their children lose the sense of identity.

In one, a little girl is happily video-chatting with her Israeli grandparents who have a Menorah burning in the background. The child is asked what holiday she is celebrating and exultantly exclaims “Christmas” to the evident dismay of the older couple back in Israel.

Then the ad, produced by Israel’s Ministry of Immigrant Absorption, warns: “They will remain Israeli, their children won’t. Help them come home.”

In another, a young Israeli woman is solemnly marking the nation’s dead on Yom Hazikaron, the day of remembrance. Her American boyfriend has mistaken the subdued lighting and the candles as an indicator she is seeking a romantic evening. “They will remain Israelis, their partners won’t always understand,” warns the ad.

The ads, still widely available on YouTube and other Internet sites, also spawned spoofs. In one, an argumentative Israeli bargains in an American department to the evident confusion of the clerk who is unused to Middle Eastern haggling.

In addition to the television ads, billboards in Hollywood and other American cities with large numbers of expatriate Israelis have carried similar messages; warning, for instance, that it’s time to return to Israel when Americanized children fail to address their fathers in Hebrew.

Urging the yordim – Israelis who have emigrated – to return is a longstanding Israeli policy. The ads were apparently aimed at the estimated 600,000 Israelis believed to have emigrated to North America. It was the bluntness of the campaign and the not-so-subtle suggestions that living among mostly secular American Jews may corrupt Israeli identity angered many in the United States.

The ad series, called “It’s Time to Return to Israel” was broadcast on Israeli TV and in key American markets.

The Atlantic’s award-winning columnist Jeffrey Goldberg mocked the campaign as offensive and ridiculous. While the migration minister first defended it, spreading anger among American Jews quickly forced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to intervene and scrap the campaign.

“The Ministry of Immigrant Absorption’s campaign clearly did not take into account American Jewish sensibilities, and we regret any offense it caused,” the Israeli embassy said in a statement.

“The campaign, which aimed to encourage Israelis living abroad to return home, was a laudable one, and it was not meant to cause insult. The campaign was conducted without the knowledge or approval of the prime minister’s office or of the Israeli embassy in Washington.”

The whole vexed issue of return and migration to Israel reaches far beyond whether a particular ad campaign was ill-advised or offensive. Israel continues to actively encourage aliya – the migration to Israel of all Jews as well as actively encouraging expatriates to come home. At the same time, the return of Palestinians who fled Israel remains one of the toughest unresolved issues in the moribund peace process.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/worldview/time-to-return-to-israel-ads-rile-american-jews/article2260017/?utm_medium=Feeds%3A%20RSS%2FAtom&utm_source=World&utm_content=2260017

[Christian40]

"Some 330 North Americans making aliya arrived at Ben- Gurion Airport from New York on Tuesday morning on a flight chartered by Nefesh B’Nefesh.

Among the new arrivals were 125 young people making aliya in order to serve Israel in the IDF.

The “lone soldiers” are to be part of the Garin Tzabar program, which provides them with support and a number of benefits during their service.

The 63 men and 62 women aged 18 to 22 are to be drafted into the army soon, most of them seeking to serve in elite combat units.

Of the 2,800 lone soldiers now in Israel, about 900 hail from North America.

Forty-one families and 88 children were on the flight chartered by Nefesh B’Nefesh (NBN). Ninety-two of the immigrants are moving to the periphery as part of Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund’s Go South and Go North programs.

Upon arrival in Israel on Tuesday, some 1,600 people greeted the immigrants.

Among those on hand to welcome them at the airport were Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar, head of the IDF Personnel Directorate Maj.-Gen. Orna Barbivai, Friends of the IDF national director Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yitzhak “Jerry” Gershon, KKL-JNF chairman Efi Stenzler and singer Rami Kleinstein.

An emotional Sa’ar told them, “What you did today – you took the biggest and most important decision you could ever take: to leave your familiar home in different places, to immigrate to Israel and build your home [in] the home of the Jewish people. And this is the core of Zionism. I look around me and I see hundreds of excited people who came to welcome you with open arms. And this is a clear message to you. You are not alone. We are with you. We will assist you and support you along the way.”

Stenzler added, “Our excitement this time is especially great. This is the first time that on one airplane, 125 soldiers are arriving to join the ranks of the IDF. The people of Israel salute you!” He added, “And don’t worry. Even if some of you are taking your first steps ever in Israel – after two months in the IDF you will feel that you were born here in Israel.”

At a departure ceremony at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, Rabbi Yehoshua Fass, co-founder and executive director of NBN, bid them farewell on their flight to their new homes.

“For 11 years, on 49 flights, I have welcomed thousands as they make their way to Israel,” Fass said. “And, it doesn’t get any less emotional. All of you, from diverse backgrounds, are coming together in a unified dream – to make Israel your home.”

This summer, a total of 2,500 olim are expected to arrive in Israel on NBN flights, in cooperation with the Jewish Agency for Israel, the Immigrant Absorption Ministry and KKLJNF.

The first flight of the summer arrived in Israel some three weeks ago. It carried 231 North American immigrants, including a record number of 106 children as well as 54 singles. The immigrants were joined on their flight by former IDF captive Gilad Schalit.

Correction: This article initially quoted NBN co-founder and executive director Rabbi Yehoshua Fass as saying that “For 11 years, on 29 flights, I have welcomed thousands as they make their way to Israel”. In actual fact Rabbi Fass said "49 flights", as he has made a concerted effort to accompany every one of the 50 charter Aliyah flights that the organization has arranged."

http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-News/Nefesh-B-Nefesh-flight-brings-330-more-North-American-immigrants-to-Israel-322872