Following a spate of serious acts of crime and violence in
recent weeks Haifa Police Commander Nir Mariash remarked that
immigrants are responsible for a disproportionately high
percent of crime, "and therefore we have to take a careful
look at who comes to Israel and how he is absorbed."
The high rate of crime among immigrants from the former
Soviet Union is a well-known phenomenon among crime
prevention figures, as well as the media. Yet for some reason
there has been a tendency to silence the issue as if nobody
wants to speak out against aliya.
And when somebody finally had the gumption to speak out, a
swarm of politicians immediately descended on him. The most
outspoken among them was Yigal Yasinov (Shinui), who called
on the Police Chief and the Minister of Internal Security to
fire Mariash. What for? For speaking the truth.
Within 24 hours the media was reporting the police had
uncovered a neo-Nazi movement here in Israel. A movement
whose members admire Adolph Hitler, yimach shemo,
advocate the annihilation of the Jewish people and use Nazi
salutes and swastikas as their symbols. According to police
most or all of the dozens of members were from the former
Soviet Union.
Following these reports MK Yitzchak Cohen (Shas) announced he
intends to submit a law to review every aliya visa issued in
recent years in order to weed out hooligans, neo-Nazis and
delinquents who filtered into the country using falsified
documents and posing as Jews.
In the early 90s, at the height of immigration from the
former Soviet Union, then-Minister Rav Yitzchok Peretz, the
rov of Ra'anana, warned against the large proportion of non-
Jewish immigrants, saying eventually we would one day suffer
from them. Rav Peretz' remarks set off a tremendous
nationwide debate.
Non-Jewish immigration is a blow to the country. Today there
are hundreds of thousands of them milling about. Of course
not all of them are delinquents and certainly not neo-Nazis
but the State of Israel was founded as a nation of Jews, not
non-Jewish Russians. There are dozens of countries for them
in Europe and elsewhere.
Hopefully the authorities will wake up before it's too late,
stanching further immigration and making every effort to
filter out all of the unwanted elements either through
legislation or other means.
No Appointments, No Construction
The Knesset environment lobby sought to declare Nitzanim Sand
Dunes a national treasure and decided to act to prevent the
construction on the edge of the preserve for Gush Katif
evacuees, including submitting statements of opposition to
the various planning bodies.
So far so good. This is environmentalists' job. They believe
in it, this is their ideology and calling, and this is what
they were elected to the Knesset to do.
Yet this lobby is headed by two Knesset members. One is
Michael Melchior. Fine. But the second lobbyist is none other
than Omri Sharon. This is where the big mystery comes into
play. Did he not hear his own father was behind the idea to
build in Nitzanim for transferred Gush Katif residents?
Is the younger Sharon unable to snatch a brief conversation
at home with his father rather than convening meetings of
lobbyists and wasting time on long, exhausting meetings as
the little guys in the Knesset—i.e. all those who do
not have a father serving as Prime Minister—are wont
to? Has something gone awry in the Sharon family?
Or perhaps they are playing a double hand. One hand reaches
out to the settlers and supposedly does everything in its
power to accommodate their needs while the other hand rebuffs
them, fighting against the possibility that appears most
amenable to the Gush Katif settlers—moving to the
Nitzanim area.
On second thought perhaps the explanation is much simpler:
since Nitzanim Sand Dunes offers no possibility of
appointments for Likud Center members Omri Sharon opposes the
plan.
