Several articles recently appeared over the past week extolling for Israelis the joys of life in the Diaspora. And the symbol of this joyous reunion with the galut is, Milky, an Israeli chocolate pudding! Best of all possible worlds: the taste of home, and the sweet sound of German on the street. And these members of Israel’s Lost Generation are right! Milky does cost less in Germany.
That barely seventy years since the Holocaust these youngsters who refer to themselves as “the young generation of Israel” can have so limited an awareness of history as to advocate a return to the Diaspora suggests failures both of Israel and the Diaspora. What, if not an understanding of Zionism, should an Israeli child learn in school? And who, with even a glancing awareness of our history in the Diaspora which inspired Zionism to begin with, would choose the Diaspora over the state of the Jews? The Holocaust is but the latest mass assault on Jews in the West. I won't go into details here but strongly recommend for those not familiar with our history a quick visit to Wikipedia or, if interested in a more comprehensive approach to the sources, history and future risk to our people, my multi-year and continuing JPost blog, The Jewish Problem: From anti-Judaism to Antisemitism. The conclusion, reduced to a single line is that our population constituted 10% of the Roman Empire in the first century and is today a tiny fraction of 1% in the West. NOT the result of "natural causes;" neither was it the result of Darwinian “survival of the fittest.” For 1700 years Jews in Christendom were not permitted to defend themselves, to possess weapons. And that was certainly the case of our six million victims to the killing fields of Europe, 1938 to 1945.
As for using cost-of-living as deciding where to live, during the early Hitler years many Jews chose the comforts of German society over the sacrifice of leaving ending them up in Auschwitz.
It was not without reason that the 19th century founders of Zionism warned of the dangers of the Diaspora, had as their first priority to provide a refuge for the Jewish People.
Israel is not perfect. Anyone who lives, or has lived in Israel is familiar with the costs involved: taxes, bureaucracy and even, as our “young generation of Israel” so tastily points out, the cost of Milky. Is there inequity in wealth; are taxes heavier on the middle class, yes. That is a characteristic of Israel’s capitalist economy, a general characteristic of all such economic systems. And then the burden of the cost of defending Israel in a hostile environment, a burden unmatched by any other country in the world.
No, Israel is not perfect. Toys are cheaper in the West. But at bottom Israel has an IDF to defend against known and visible enemies when need arises.
Whatever comforts the Diaspora has over Israel: who was there to protect our six million? And who in your Diaspora “home” will be there next time around?
An excerpt from the latest article, Israeli expats in Berlin appeal to Merkel for help in facilitating 'aliyah' to Germany:
VISA REQUEST (To the United States, England, France and Germany) RE: REFUGEE HIGH COST OF LIVING
Allies of Israel, it’s a REAL emergency, and we kindly ask for your help. Please help us escape the impossible high-cost of living that our government has created. We have no future here. We will do anything for a temporary working visa in your conditions.
Kindly, the young generation of Israel.
TO:
US: ארה״ב: Jerusalemivinquiries@state.gov
England: בריטניה: webmaster.telaviv@fco.gov.ukFrance: צרפת: diplomatie@ambafrance-il.orgGermany: גרמניה: https://tel-aviv.diplo.de/Vertretung/telaviv/he/Kontakt.html?verteiler=3253440
לכל מי שחושב שזה חסר סיכוי שיחשוב פעמיים. למדינות האלה נמאס לקבל מהגרים ממדינות עולם שלישי כמו פקיסטאן והם ישמחו לשטף של ישראלים אקדמאים, מתכנתים, משווקים, מהנדסים, יוצרים, עורכי דין ולפלפל הישראלי שרק אנחנו יודעים ליצר.
נתראה בברלין!!!