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When Hummus and Hot Dogs Collide - Israel Cancels Immigrant Ads in US
By
Joel Leyden New York, New York --- December 5, 2011 .... It was last Friday when I discovered the Israel Ministry of Immigrant Absorption ads on Facebook. It was a news story by Jeffrey Goldberg that was being shared like fire. After viewing some of the YouTube video ads that suggested that Israelis not marry American Jews, I was disgusted. I said so to my 5,000 plus friends on Facebook and demanded that they be taken down. These ads could not have been more offensive to Israelis nor their Jewish brothers and sisters in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. I actually had tears running down my face as the emotional impact was that potent. I could identify with the pain and anguish that many Israelis struggle with in living in the US. Yes, it is a wonderful nation. Democratic and full of commercial opportunity. But it is not home. For myself, I am in the US seeking monies to send back to my children. A long and painful legal process. I know what it is like to speak with my children daily on SKYPE, 6,000 miles away. I do not need this garbarge from the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption. One scare ad targeted to Israeli expatriates in the US that warns they will lose their identities if they don't return home, illustrates a pair of Israeli grandparents seated in front of a menorah and Skypeing with their young granddaughter, who lives in America. When they ask the child to name the holiday they're celebrating, she says "Christmas." The acting, voice over, editing and video production could not be more professional. But this money should have gone to feeding impoverished children in Israel or treating children in Sderot or Ashkelon for PTS from the thousands of rockets fired at them from Gaza. As one who works as a cross-cultural training professional at the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs teaching diplomats in how to adapt to other cultures and training US and Europe businessmen on how to understand Israel culture - what we witnessed here was pure culture clash. Was the Israel Ministry of Immigrant Absorption wrong or right to have created ads implying that Israelis and their children living in the US would lose their Jewishness? The Ministry had good intentions in trying to seduce the 2 million Israelis living in the US back to Israel. But their approach from a New York pastrami view could not have been more wrong. Israel's embassy in Washington and consulates in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco were inundated with protests from offended American Jews. The Jewish Federations of North America, the Anti-Defamation League and other Jewish groups condemned the ads. Israelis
leave Israel for a wide variety of reasons. Most do not want to
leave but are forced by low wages and high taxes to seek employment
in Europe or North America. The Israeli makes 25 percent of what
the American takes home in salary. Over 20 percent of Israelis
live in poverty with one in three children going to sleep hungry.
As I write this feature, both doctors and nurses in Israel are
on strike as they are not making enough to feed their families. In the 25 years that I have lived in Israel I have seen hundreds of Olim (immigrants) come and go as they could not culturally integrate and or were unemployed or underemployed. Zionism does not pay the bills. Do some Americans make it in Israel? Yes, but with great luck of having secured work in the hi-tech market and or receive moneys from their families in the States to pay rent and buy food. Those Americans who do well are those who retire in Israel with a nice nest egg. Much credit must be given though to Zionist programs such as BirthRight that introduces the beauty, culture and history of Israel to college students and Nfesh b'Nfesh which does it best to bring Americans over to Israel and find jobs for them. These ads are insulting to Israelis who had no choice but to leave for financial reasons. Insulting to brave Americans who gave it their best shot and returned to both work and their families in the States. Insulting to American Jews as they have done nothing wrong. Insulting to American Jews who have no desire to convert Israelis to Christians. True, one can't miss the Christmas decorations but the Israeli is not being forced to sing Silent Night. Is it easy to lose your identity in the US? With regard to assimilation, my grandfather came to Ellis Island from Russia. He had a long Russian Jewish name that Customs could not pronounce. So he was given the name Levy. My father then changed the name to Leyden so that he could perform international business. Although he changed the name to survive and went from near poverty to reaching substantial wealth, he never forgot his Jewish roots. He was a lay leader at the UJA, President of his Temple and even consulted the Israel Ministry of Defense. So does assimilation take place? Yes. But it is a matter as to how far and what degree. But one fact remains clear. Those Israelis who have moved to the States have never lost their identities as Jews or Israelis. They cannot and will not forget the sweaty days they spent in IDF uniform. As for Americans who moved to Israel and then returned - they returned back to the States with a greater sense of Judaism and appreciation for their spiritual home - Israel. I am in no manner encouraging Israelis to leave Israel. Nor rationalizing for those now living in the Diaspora. But I am stating that no one, including the Israel Ministry of Absorption has the right to judge any Jew, anywhere. Where would Israel be today without Zionists living in the US, Canada, UK, France and several other nations throughout the world? If the Israel government wanted to bring Israelis home they should have addressed how they would have been exempt from taxes and other benefits that new immigrants enjoy for a period of time. They could have simply have said: "we miss you, we need you." The ads could have addressed that Israel is reducing taxes as with the recent Knesset approved tax portion of the Trajtenberg Committee report. And it is no honeymoon for Israelis who come to live in the US. Their Israeli confidence is interpreted as arrogance, their spontaneous and aggressive nature that they learned in the army is seen as "rude". Only in New York do they stand a chance of being accepted at the fast pace for which they were brought up. From Hartford, Cleveland and Boston to Atlanta, New Orleans and San Francisco they are not welcomed. They are seen as strangers that even the local Jewish folk "cannot trust." It takes time for them to adjust. Not to worry about the Israeli - if he can survive combat in the IDF - he can survive the US. The last thing that these Israelis need is a guilt trip coming from Jerusalem. They miss their families. They miss the streets. They miss the beaches and mountains. They miss the smell and sounds of the open shuk. They miss the holidays. They miss their home. But they need to survive. Most send money back to their families. And many return once a year to perform reserve IDF service! Goldberg stated: "The idea, communicated in these advertisements is that the US is no place for a proper Jew, and that a Jew who is concerned about the Jewish future should live in Israel, is archaic, and also chutzpadik. The message is: Dear American Jews, thank you for lobbying for US defense aid (and what a great show you put on at the AIPAC convention every year!) but, please, stay away from our sons and daughters." In response to both the Jewish American and Israel - American outcry, Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador to the US, said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that the ad, and others like it, be taken down. Nachman
Shai, an opposition lawmaker who once served as IDF spokesperson,
said that trying to bring home Israelis was a fine cause, but
not at the price of alienating American Jews. When one wonders about the quality or lack of when it comes to Israel PR and our image abroad. How Christians and many other religious groups just don't get it nor understand the daily struggle for survival that Israel goes through. Just remember how Israel just failed in reaching its own Israelis abroad and made headlines for this failure in CNN, FOX News, New York Times, The Washington Post, AP, Reuters, ABC, CBS, NBC, the BBC and thousands of other media outlets. The solution?
Do not use guilt on any Jew around the world to make Aliya or
"return home". And lastly,
before you distribute an appeal to the US from Jerusalem, have
a PR firm in New York view it first.
The above news content was edited and SEO optimized in Israel by the Leyden Digital PR SEO New Media Group - Israel, New York, Hartford.
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