The Israeli Left cannot claim to hold much political sway – despite the occasional move such as protesting the influence of the IDF in schools – but the Jewish state is facing a far greater problem these days. Many global Jews simply don’t want to move there anymore. In only a matter of years, Palestinians will outnumber Jews in the entire land:
Founded with the express purpose of “ingathering of the exiles” — but with no more large groups of Jews to save — Israel is facing the end of the era of mass aliyah.
Recent reports that the Jewish Agency for Israel was considering shutting down its flagship aliyah department have prompted discussion about the future of immigration to Israel even as agency officials quickly denied the department was closing.
“Israel cannot throw away the idea of aliyah because it is one of basics of the ideology of having a Jewish state,” said David Raz, a former Jewish Agency emissary abroad. “You have to create a situation that people will want to come, from the element of being together with Jews. But it’s not simple. There is a trickle, but basically from the free world the majority does not want to come.”