The Ethnic Perspective of the Selective Immigration in the 1950’s Avi Picard – Rutgers University

Immigration policy Dilemmas The aim of Zionism Attitude toward Jews from Moslem countries Rescue Building Reservation Solidarity

Rescue Versus Building To establish an infrastructure for a new society Immigrants are welcomed as long as they contribute to the development of Eretz Israel Immigration should be controlled and slow Rescue Zionism should provide a safe haven for persecuted Jews. all Jews interested in Aliyah should be allowed to come.

The changes in the late 1930’s The National Home Grew stronger Antisemitism in Europe Immigration countries close their gates A need for a Jewish Majority in Palestine Free immigration policy

Attitude toward Jews from Moslem countries Colonial Heritage Reservation National Ethos Solidarity

Attitude of reservation The Colonial Heritage Europeans Natives Attitude of reservation

The National Ethos Solidarity The differences among the members of the nation are secondary and should be ignored Germans Polish Romanians Iraqis Moroccans Yemenites J E W S Solidarity

1940’s – The Eastern Orientation The result of the Holocaust The need for a Jewish Majority the Israeli-Arab conflict undermined the civil status and the security of Jews in Arab countries Jews from Asia and Africa are included in the immigration plans

The way to the mass immigration The Eastern Orientation The principal of Rescue 1948-1951 680,000 immigrants Half of them were from Asia and Africa.

Mass Immigration Malaise Physical and Economic Problems Losing Western Identity The Second Demographic Threat

Immigration to Israel by origin 1948-1952

World Jewry by 1948

The (second) Demographic Fear Ben Gurion: “the character of the yishuv would be impaired and its pioneering image would fade away.” Pinhas Lavon (General Secretary of the Histadrut): “The establishment here of a Levantine people instead of a nation characterized by the Godly image of the Hebrew labor movement… Israel would become a Jewish version of Syria, Lebanon and Egypt”

The Selective Immigration Immigrants should be Young Healthy Willing to hard work Willing to go to agricultural settlements for at least two years

Was the Selection Policy Ethnically Biased? Shlomo Zalman Shragai: “when the Selection rules were conceived, they were made for North Africa… Nobody thought that there is a problem regarding England or Belgium. All the restrictions were for North Africa. With Jews from other countries we were not so strict” (February 1954).

The goals of selection - restriction Giora Yosftal about immigration plan: 80% will come from the Mizrachi countries […] I say that the country is in a certain danger, its moral and social existence are in danger from this immigration. I am not talking about external absorption conditions […] but what we have from a social point of view […]. Ninety percent of the transit camps now consist of the Oriental Jews with their gloomy lives […]. It is said that life in the country is taking on a Levantine character, I am sure that this is so, some of us already fear the immigrants. When there was the difficult immigration of the Holocaust survivors, a difficult immigration from a social point of view, we did not stand opposite them, we stood together with them, it was possible to identify with them, but this is not the position now […]. I live in fear that the country is attaining a character which cannot draw a person who is not compelled to immigrate. I dare to ask: when will we build according to the forces now arriving in the country”

The Goals of selection - acculturation Facilitate the Melting pot Moshe Kol: If we will bring the young generation first, we can take care of them, educate them and prepare them to assist us in welcoming their families. If we don’t do it we will drowned in a sea of levantinisation

The Goals of Selection Economic goals Preventing immigration from the Moslem countries Creating a successful melting pot by taking the young generation first

Solidarity tested Tunisia and Morocco 1954-1956 The Struggle against French colonialism and the question of Communities in Jeopardy Free emigration at risk under Arab government Regulation of immigration according to the absorption capacity of “ship to village” policy 1956 – Morocco forbids the emigration of Jews 100,000 Jews were trapped in Morocco

Solidarity resume Mossad’s clandestine operation: smuggle Jews out of morocco 1961: The Moroccan government let the Jews to leave the country as long as it did not become public, and the explicit destination was not Israel. All restrictions of the selective policy were abandoned