Moving to Israel

Always searching for good reasons to convince people to move to Israel, I was unfortunately hit over the head with a fantastic reason this morning when I read Noam Bedein’s chilling article on his 13-day coast-to-coast visit to Canadian college campuses.

It seems that college students, more than ever, are dealing with a completely inaccurate (to put it mildly) view of the situation in Israel. Whether this distorted view they have is due to being misinformed or just plain disdain for the Jewish State, it is a sad fact that Bedein talks about in his description of his tour that he used to try presenting the human side of the Israeli town of Sderot and the western Negev communities.

“Palestinians” and others clearly have no interest in any “peace treaties” with Israel and reading this article is a painful reminder that the battle is not just here in the Middle East but even with many of our “friends” in North America.

Ari

Two members of the Israeli Parliament MKs Gilad Erdan (Likud) and Yoel Hasson (Kadima) proposed that Aliyah organizations work more closely with the government and its bureaucrats. They explain that such a move would turn government officials and their offices into a type of “hub” which will then direct policies and coordinate actions aimed at getting more people to move to Israel.So basically their idea is to create more government bureaucracy in order to speed up the Aliyah process. . .

Is it any wonder why the current situation in Israel is so far down the tubes? Israeli parliament members can’t help the thousands of people in Sderot who are suffering under the daily barrage of missiles. Statistics show that poverty levels in Israel have reached the highest rate ever; one of every 2 children is living below the poverty line, a poverty line that was defined by clueless fat cat bureaucrats. And go ahead, try to find a parliament member who hasn’t been investigated for corruption, I dare you.

There is a way to make Aliyah to Israel easier, faster, and most of all, more financially interesting. The Israeli government needs to make life for the Jews already living in Israel easier. Think about it. The majority of Jews living in Israel have a tough time. Making a living in Israel is very hard. Getting anything done is a hassle. Government lines are long, bureaucracy is thick, and the average government worker is highly under skilled and under motivated. This concludes with a quality of living which is substandard to say the least.

Now to a well-to-do Jewish American who is thinking about Aliyah, Zionism will only go so far. Why should he give up his high standard of living, make Aliyah, and then get stuck paying high taxes on an underpaid job in Israel. Maybe government officials should be more concerned about enriching the state (i.e. its citizens) which would in turn make Israel more attractive in the eyes of potential Olim.