Scores of activists from Shai, the Association for the
Preservation of the Jewish Character of the State of Israel,
demonstrated on Tuesday 11 Tishrei, in Paris Square which is
near the Prime Minister's home in Jerusalem. They protested
the continuation of the policy of encouraging immigration of
non-Jews from the C.I.S. The demonstrators were joined by a
number of Israelis from Jerusalem, and were guarded by a
large contingent of police.
The demonstrators spoke to passersby, since there was no
actual purpose to demonstrating in front of the home of the
Prime Minister, who was abroad at the time. All of the
speakers, who had once been citizens of the former Soviet
Union, called on the public to protest the inundation of the
country with non-Jews. They claimed that the fact that the
Interior Ministry refuses to disclose data regarding the
amount of Jews and non-Jews who immigrate to Israel,
indicates that the government is firm in its resolve to bring
a maximal number of non-Jews from the C.I.S to Israel, while
keeping the facts from the public. Some of the speakers had
been outstanding activists in Russia.
During the day, they set up an information stand and
distributed shocking material on the extent of the non-Jewish
immigration.
The Shai activists related that the life of a journalist who
had written about this trend in a Beit Shemesh newspaper had
been threatened. The article appeared under a huge headline
disclosing Shai's revelation concerning the number of non-
Jews who came to Israel. One of those who threatened him
called him and said: "I can't get an identity card because of
people like you. If I don't get a card, I'll kill you."
The journalist, Asaf Tfiro filed a complaint with the police.
