The Population Problem
Juan Cole writes about a new ad campaign: Israeli Ads against Marriage with American Jews are Part of a Population War. As Dr. Cole notes, this isn’t the first time Israel has addressed this problem.
In 2004 the Jewish Daily Forward reported Germany Is Moving To End Mass Immigration of Jews From Russia. The Israeli government lobbied for the changes in German law to stop the majority of Jews from the former Soviet Union from immigrating to Germany, rather than Israel. For Germany to take the step gives you some idea of how hard the Israeli government pushed it.
As the BBC noted there was a US Jewish outcry over Israeli expat ‘return’ ads. The portrayal of American Jews in the ads was not complimentary.
The Lukudniks have been so noxious that US urges Israel to end ‘isolation in Middle East’. When the US Secretary of Defense starts telling an ‘ally’ that they need to start getting along with their neighbors, you can assume that the ‘ally’ is being a major jerk.
With the budget cutting that is going on in Washington, this is not a time for the largest recipient of US aid to be stirring up trouble. Given the prospect of cuts in the Defense budget, reducing or eliminating the large chunk of US military assistance that goes to Israel would look very enticing to the Pentagon bean-counters.
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Informative post; thanks. Stella’s ex, the raving Zionist, needs to read what Juan Cole has to say. But he won’t, and if he did, he’d be furious, and he wouldn’t change one bit of his Bibi-like opinion as a result.
It never ceases to amaze me how otherwise very bright people can be utterly blind to the rational world’s perception (including most American Jews’ perception) of this situation. I can’t imagine this will end well for Israel’s Jews, and end it most certainly will, because their current status is truly unstable. Just read the comments on Cole’s post.
It is totally unsustainable. The people the Likud are catering to are exempt from military service and work. They are a huge drain on the economy, but the government accommodates their every whim. There are fewer and fewer productive tax-paying Israelis, which is why they were in the street by the tens of thousands and demonstrating.
Supporting the military, the settlements, and the ultra-Orthodox leaves nothing for the regular citizens. The nation of Israel is self-destructing.
Tibet collapsed because the lamaseries sucked up over half of Tibetan GDP for their lavish lifestyle, leaving the remainder of the country an impoverished hellhole. Theocracies do seem rather prone to this sort of thing….
Well, at least the Tibetan monks weren’t throwing rocks and spitting on tourists for walking around on the ‘wrong’ day of the week, something that has happened to more than one Christian group touring in Israel.
You are correct that when religion absorbs the majority of a country’s GDP, things are going to get nasty, and the process is starting in Israel with the demonstrations.
Thinking more, Israel has a time-honored solution to the problem of non-Jews within their borders. Hint: There is a photograph somewhere on the Internet of the Arabs being forced into the sea at gunpoint at Haifa harbor in 1948.
The core founding principle of the modern State of Israel is two words: “Never Again”. That is, never again will millions of Jews die for lack of a nation willing to take them in, the way that millions of Europe’s Jews died because nobody — not the U.S., not Britain, nobody — would take them in once Hitler declared them persona non grata. Hitler was happy to ship Jews overseas, that was cheaper than building extermination camps, but *nobody would take them*. The whole purpose of the modern state of Israel is to make sure that such a situation never happens again, meaning that Israel must remain Jewish in order to guarantee that, and if it requires a renewed bout of ethnic cleansing to do so… well. Israel has never shown many qualms about that.
That said, if the ultra-orthodox want to keep their little enclave of Jewishness, they’re going to have to start fighting for it, instead of leaving that to the Russian immigrants. Because the Russians aren’t all that eager to fight for the Hasidim, who they view as akin to aliens dropped in from another planet. The Russians aren’t particularly culturally Jewish in the first place due to the many decades of Communist rule over them and the fact that they and their children now make up at least 20% of the population of Israel is not a recipe for peace and tranquility when you have the Hasidim trying to run roughshod over them.
The really ultra-Orthodox don’t believe that Israel should exist until the Messiah appears to right all that is wrong in the world, so there is a major problem with having them in charge. Their purpose in politics is to maintain their lifestyle, not to operate the government. [Not all that different than the Tea Party.]
This isn’t a sustainable system, from either a demographic or political stand point, and would already be in deep trouble without American assistance.
I would think that the majority of Israelis just want a regular country, without all of the posturing and problems. That’s why so many emigrate – to lead normal lives.
A very large number of the Soviet ‘Jews’ aren’t even considered Jews under Israeli law, which follows the matriarchal line, and, as you note, many of those who make it over that hurdle, are not observant Jews. They want a life, not a cause.
I would think that the majority of Israelis just want a regular country, without all of the posturing and problems.
Then why do they keep electing governments that do all that posturing and cause all those problems?
I agree that a sizable percentage of Israelis fit your description, but a majority? Israel is a democracy. *Truly* a democracy, they have proportional representation, unlike the United States. If they truly wanted a no-drama country, they could elect a government that promised no drama. Instead, they elect… Bibi.
‘Nuff said.
– Badtux the Democracy Penguin
The parties that are allowed to run get proportional representation of the people who are allowed to vote in Israel. The parties determine the ‘list’ of candidates to serve in the parliament, and who their leaders are. You get to vote for a party, not a candidate.
The governments are created from coalitions formed from multiple parties by the leaders of the parties, not by the voters.
Bibi is prime minister because he leads the largest party in the coalition, while Avigdor Lieberman is the foreign minister because he leads the second largest party in the government.
If you have a small party and don’t reach a threshold limit, you get nothing, so some percentage of voters are represented by no one in government.
That is before you get to the people who have given up on the political system, because no matter who they vote for, the government continues to do the same stupid crap – rather like the US, actually.
Proportional representation is certainly better than the ‘first passed the post’ system we have, but it isn’t without faults.
Bryan, everybody k new when they voted for Likkud or any other right-wing party that they were voting for Bibi and/or Lieberman. I mean, we’re not exactly talking about unknowns. The reality is that the majority of Israelis voted for right-wing political parties, and got what they voted for — posturing and problems.
And the people who didn’t vote? Effectively they DID vote — for NuttyYahoo.
– Badtux the Democracy Penguin
They are losing the realists to emigration for those who have marketable skills. Supporting Israel is a lot easier if you don’t have to put up with the government.
The whackos have always had an advantage in voter turnout. Actually, that is what makes me think that Newt might be a more successful candidate that Mitt for the Repubs. Newt can bring out the whackos, but Mitt can’t. My Mother watches TV and she thinks that Huntsman and Ron Paul are the only candidates who make any sense during the debates. I warn her to stop watching, or she will have to up her blood pressure meds.
Mitt has George H.W. Bush Disease — he’s had way too many “read my lips” moments where he flopped to the opposite position for the crazy GOP base to ever trust him now that he’s flopped to *their* position. They’ll stay home in droves if he’s nominated. On the other hand, Gingrich has a slight… likability… problem. He’s Dick Cheney without the charisma ;). After his proposal to make poor kids work their way thru school as school janitors, you wonder whether he’s going to next bite the heads off of kittens on live television. He might turn out the GOP base but I can’t see moderates being anything but appalled, perhaps even enough to vote for Obama.
It is all going to be about turn-out, and I see that as a problem for both parties.
Newt ‘efting’ Grinch-rich can con the whackos and Mittster can’t, but Newt has more baggage than a 747. If someone searches the CSpan video archives, there is a wealth of materials showing Newt being Newt. YouTube will need a Newt Channel to handle it. The best part is that you don’t have to do much beyond cutting the selections down to the YouTube time limits. I stumbled on to him late nights while working shifts and thought it was a political comedy show, but it was Newt giving speeches to an empty House after everyone else went home for the night.