Coronavirus, not war, sees Israel deter Diaspora Jews from coming

NATIONAL AFFAIRS: If Israel welcomed Jews wanting to come here during times of conventional war, then how can it turn them away now?

By HERB KEINON
A man wearing a mask walks in the departures terminal after Israel said it will require anyone arriving from overseas to self-quarantine for 14 days as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus, at Ben Gurion International airport in Lod, near Tel Aviv, Israel March 10, 2020. (photo credit: RONEN ZVULUN / REUTERS)
A man wearing a mask walks in the departures terminal after Israel said it will require anyone arriving from overseas to self-quarantine for 14 days as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus, at Ben Gurion International airport in Lod, near Tel Aviv, Israel March 10, 2020.
(photo credit: RONEN ZVULUN / REUTERS)
Israel has never turned away Jews wanting to come to this country during a time of war.
Not in 1948, not in 1967, not in 1973.
The stories are legendary of Diaspora Jews who volunteered in 1948 to help the nascent army and air force defeat the Arab states hell-bent on eradicating the fledgling country. In the Six Day and Yom Kippur wars there were thousands of cases of young Jews who flew into a war zone to work on kibbutzim, moshavim and in hospitals.
When that phenomenon did not repeat itself during the Second Intifada to the same degree, and when many Diaspora Jews – fearful for their security – canceled or postponed visits during that period, many Israelis felt hurt, disappointed and let down. Those who did come during those days when suicide bombings were nearly a weekly experience, and when the streets of Jerusalem were eerily empty, were met by grateful storekeepers thanking them effusively for their business.
During the mini wars in Gaza over the last 15 years – be it Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009 or Operation Protective Edge in 2014 – tourists and groups of students did continue to arrive, though at a somewhat slower rate, and were greeted with appreciation by a population thankful for their show of solidarity.
Israel has never turned away Jews wanting to come to this country during a time of war. Except now. Except during the war against the coronavirus.
IF YOU ARE a Jew who wants to make aliyah and move to Israel, then the gates remain open, and – indeed – 3,500 new immigrants have, according to Jewish Agency figures, arrived since the outbreak of the plague in March.
The head of the National Security Council, Meir Ben-Shabbat, was quoted in a meeting dealing with Israel’s handling of COVID-19 three months ago as saying he was very proud the country’s doors remained opened to immigrants, even though this obviously placed an economic and possibly health burden on the state. This was a point of pride, he said, because the ingathering of the exiles was one of this country’s core missions, in good times and in bad.
But how about tourists? How about devout Jews who have apartments here, come three times a year for the holidays, but do not have Israeli citizenship? How about those with relatives here – even husbands, wives and children – but who are not citizens?
If the country would gladly open its gates to them when it was under attack – wanting their show of solidarity – why not now, especially when the conventional wisdom is that Israel, along with the rest of the planet, is waging a “war” against the coronavirus. If Israel welcomed Jews wanting to come here during times of conventional war, then how can it turn them away now?
Simple, say those advocating a closed-door policy: When you fight a war, you choose the most effective weapons needed to defeat the enemy. And in this particular war, one of the most effective weapons is to close the borders to prevent the spread of the disease.
The country, this argument runs, has a legal obligation to allow in its own citizens – and has actually shown the sunny side of the country by going to extreme lengths to retrieve its citizens from the ends of the earth – but no such obligation exists toward noncitizens, Jews or otherwise.
According to this argument, if the country decides to let in Jewish noncitizens as tourists, how about non-Jewish tourists? Can it really exclude tourists based on religious affiliation? And as a country that waves high the banner of freedom of worship for all religions, how can it let Jews in to pray at the Western Wall or the Tomb of the Patriarchs, but not Christians who want to worship at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre or Muslims who want to pray at al-Aqsa?
So the gates have been closed.
LAST WEEK, however, one exception was made: the country, under certain regulations, will allow some 20,000 students to come here on various long-term study programs. This was widely misrepresented as Israel green-lighting entry to 16,000 ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students. Presented like this, the perception – one perpetrated by politicians with an anti-haredi agenda such as Avigdor Liberman – is that while no one else is allowed entrance, yeshiva students are allowed in because of the political pressure exerted by the haredi political parties.
As Liberman wrote on his Facebook page about the matter: “16,000 yeshiva students from abroad must not be allowed to enter Israel... Bringing them into the country is taking an unnecessary risk that will increase infection. Decisions must not be made due to political considerations and the surrender of [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] Bibi and [Alternative Prime Minister Benny] Gantz to the ultra-Orthodox parties.”
But, according to Makor Rishon’s Zvika Klein, of the 20,000 students who will be eligible to enter, only about 7,000 are going to haredi institutions, the rest either to universities, religious-Zionist yeshivot and seminaries, or various Jewish-Agency sponsored programs for students. They are to be allowed in only if their schools or programs meet Health Ministry guidelines.
Letting students come to Israel for a year to study, says former Jewish Agency head Natan Sharansky, can also be filed under the category as one of Israel’s central missions, a mission not to be abandoned even during the most trying of times.
Sharansky, the former prisoner of Zion and government minister who served as Jewish Agency chairman from 2009 to 2018, was a leading advocate of Israel Experience programs, programs affording Diaspora Jewish students an opportunity to spend a half-year or longer in the country.
“When I was the chairman of the Jewish agency and advocating for these programs, I was accused of turning the organization responsible for absorption and aliyah into an organization dealing with tourism,” he said.
“But to me that was ridiculous, because to me if you want big aliyah, you have to strengthen Jewish identity. If you want stronger Jewish communities, you have to strengthen Jewish identity. If you want them to fight harder against antisemitism, you have to strengthen Jewish identity. And the number one programs that help strengthen Jewish identity are Israel Experience programs, and this has been proven again, and again and again.”
Sharansky said these programs, which not only introduce the students to life in Israel, but also allow them to meet each other and understand what binds them, are good for Israel and Zionism, even during a worldwide pandemic.
“Just because we are protecting ourselves from corona, doesn’t mean we can put a hold on the idea of the ingathering of the exiles,” he said. And this ideal, he added, is inseparable from strengthening Jewish communities and Jewish identity abroad.
To some, this seems like a paradox. If you want to encourage Jews to move to Israel, you don’t strengthen Diaspora Jewish communities, thereby making vibrant Jewish life possible abroad. But Sharansky sees no contradiction.
“There were times when it was thought that strong Jewish communities [abroad] were bad for Zionism. I am very glad that when I was in the Jewish Agency we really changed this approach. It is good for Zionism and very good for Israel.”
The experience students have during their time in Israel strengthens their Jewish identity, he said, something that acts as a bulwark against assimilation and strengthens their communities when they go back home. It also strengthens their link and loyalty to Israel, regardless of their political views.
And this, he argued, Israel cannot afford to put on hold as it battles COVID-19.
“We have to fight our wars, but we have to continue our mission. If you stop our mission, that is the biggest victory for the enemy, whether the enemy is Hamas or corona. We have to find a way to continue our mission in times of peace and in times of war.”