“Israelis love aliya (immigration), but hate olim (immigrants).” Popular cultural aphorism in Israel.

Israel is a society built on immigration. There aren’t many holy cows in Israel, immigration is one of them. The vast majority of Israelis alive today are no more than three generations removed from immigrant ancestors: Approximately 19% of Israelis are foreign-born, 32% are the Israeli-born children of immigrant parents and 47% are Israeli-born to Israeli-born parents. Since the State’s establishment, over 3.5 million immigrants have arrived in Israel.

The ingathering of the exiles (Kibbutz Galuyot) is both the biblical promise and the ongoing modern process of the Jewish people returning to the Land of Israel. It centers on core ideas from scripture, historical migrations, religious and cultural practices, and deeply rooted national identity. Israel has made immigration, aliya, or going up, a core value of the state. It’s not just random immigration, but is almost solely limited to people who can either prove they are Jewish to the Orthodox rabbinate or are descended from a parent or one grandparent who can satisfy the Orthodox rabbinate that they are Jewish. Recent court decisions now include other streams of Judaism. 

Once a prospective oleh, one who goes up, can satisfy the state as to his or her Jewishness they can take up residence in Israel, be the beneficiary of state largesse, tax and other financial benefits designed to ease their integration, and receive citizenship and a passport in short order. If a male oleh arrives at a young enough age then he will be liable for military service. So too for females, but they will be exempt if they are married, religious, or aged 21 or older.

Integral to the values and spirit of immigration is the concept of a Safe Haven: The foundational ethos that Israel must exist as a secure, sovereign refuge for Jews worldwide is an unshakeable axiom across most of the Israeli political spectrum in the shadow of the Holocaust and Jewish persecution through the ages. Israel has historically, and currently, either devoted a ministerial seat to Immigration and Absorption, or made it a defined portfolio for the responsibility of a cabinet minister. ​The government body responsible for immigration and integration in Israel is the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, which works alongside the non-profit The Jewish Agency for Israel to help Jews move to Israel and settle into society. They are further aided by many NGOs operating in different Jewish communities worldwide whose task is to promote and aid in Aliyah, immigration to Israel.

Somewhat infamously in 1976, then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin referred to Israeli emigrants (yordim) using the infamous Hebrew phrase “nefolet shel nemushot” (נפולת של נמושות), which translates roughly to “the fallout/scum of the weaklings” in reaction to newspaper reports of growing numbers of emigrants/yordim. To this day there are Israelis who classify people who decide to emigrate from Israel as “failures” despite other life accomplishments or achievements. There is still a consensus of attempting to shame people who decide to emigrate from Israel, labeling them as failures who should leave quietly, who should not advertise their leaving, and who should not try to influence others to leave Israel. Somewhat coincidentally there was a similar wave of emigration three years after the Yom Kippur War, just as today’s wave of emigration is nearly three years after the........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)