{"id":9073,"date":"2009-02-10T13:55:12","date_gmt":"2009-02-10T10:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishforum.com.tr\/en\/content\/?p=9073"},"modified":"2023-04-06T10:23:35","modified_gmt":"2023-04-06T07:23:35","slug":"official-aliya-from-turkey-to-double","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2009\/02\/10\/official-aliya-from-turkey-to-double\/","title":{"rendered":"Official: Aliya from Turkey to double"},"content":{"rendered":"

By ETGAR LEFKOVITS <\/span>
\nThe number of Jews expected to immigrate to
\nIsrael from Turkey this year is likely to double compared to last year,
\nbut the level remains extremely low despite surging anti-Israel and
\nanti-Semitic incidents in the predominantly Muslim country, a Jewish
\nAgency for Israel official said Sunday.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

A
\nTurkish demonstrator displays a shoe on a banner during a protest
\nagainst Israel at the Kocatepe mosque in Ankara, Turkey, Saturday.
\n Photo: AP<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Separately,
\nthe Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Venezuela said Sunday that he doubted
\nwhether the South American country held any future for the Jewish
\ncommunity, following the Friday night vandalism of the oldest synagogue
\nin the country.<\/p>\n

About 250 Turkish Jews are expected to immigrate to Israel this
\nyear, more than double the 112 who did so last year, said Eli Cohen,
\ndirector-general of the Jewish Agency’s Immigration and Absorption
\nDepartment in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

The number of expected immigrants from Turkey this year makes
\nup only 1 percent of the 25,000-strong Jewish community that traces its
\nroots in the nation back more than five centuries, dating to the
\nSpanish Inquisition.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
RELATED<\/div>\n
    \n
  • <\/span> Turkey: The longer view (Editorial)
    \n<\/span><\/li>\n
  • <\/span> A climate of fear
    \n<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

    “We
    \nwould prefer that the main reason for aliya today [be] the ideology of
    \nthose immigrants who come from Western countries, but we see that the
    \nanti-Semitic incidents, as well as the global economic crisis, are what
    \nis furthering aliya today,” Cohen said.<\/p>\n

    He noted that many of the Turkish Jews seeking to make aliya
    \nwere students or young couples wanting to study at Israeli universities
    \nor to live in Israel.<\/p>\n

    Relations
    \nbetween Israel and Turkey hit a nadir last week after Turkish Prime
    \nMinister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been a leading and vitriolic
    \ncritic of Israel’s recent military operation against Hamas in Gaza,
    \nstormed out of a panel discussion with President Shimon Peres at the
    \nWorld Economic Forum in Davos.<\/p>\n

    At the same time, the Jewish Agency official said Sunday that
    \nthere was “a large interest” in immigration to Israel among Jews living
    \nin Venezuela. About 14,500 Jews live there, and only 60 immigrated to
    \nIsrael last year.<\/p>\n

    All Israeli representatives were kicked out of the country last
    \nmonth during Operation Cast Lead, but the agency is in daily contact
    \nwith Jewish groups there, Cohen said.<\/p>\n

    Meanwhile, Rabbi Pynchas Brener of Venezuela said Sunday that
    \nhe was doubtful that there was any future for the Jewish community
    \nthere.<\/p>\n

    “There is a psychological mechanism which makes people within
    \nthe country think things are not as bad as they seem,” Brener told The Jerusalem Post<\/em>
    \nin a telephone interview from Caracas. “For psychological reasons,
    \npeople who live in the country tend to justify actions taken against
    \nthem.”<\/p>\n

    His comments came after the main Sephardi synagogue in Caracas was vandalized by a group of attackers.<\/p>\n

    Two security guards were overpowered by about 15 people who
    \nransacked the synagogue’s sanctuary and offices late Friday, shattering
    \nreligious objects and leaving graffiti such as, “We don’t want
    \nmurderers,” and “Jews, get out.”<\/p>\n

    The incident forced the synagogue to cancel Saturday services.<\/p>\n

    “Reason makes us believe that this was done with the consent –
    \nif not the instigation – of some central power in Venezuela,” he said.<\/p>\n

    He noted that Israel and Jews were viewed as synonymous in the
    \nSouth American country, adding that an upcoming vote on whether the
    \npresident could be reelected indefinitely could prove to be a harbinger
    \nof things to come.<\/p>\n

    “I do not know if in this environment there will be a future for the Jewish community here,” he said.<\/p>\n

    The New York-based Anti-Defamation League called the synagogue incident “a modern day Kristallnacht.”<\/p>\n

    “This violent attack, occurring on the Jewish Sabbath, is
    \nreminiscent of the darkest days leading to the Shoah, when Jews were
    \nattacked and synagogues and Torahs vandalized and destroyed under the
    \nguard of the Nazi regime,” said ADL National Director Abraham H.
    \nFoxman.<\/p>\n

    Foxman said the heinous anti-Jewish hate crime was not random,
    \nbut was “directly related to the atmosphere of anti-Jewish intimidation
    \npromoted by President Hugo Chavez and his government apparatus.”<\/p>\n

    The organization called for Chavez to “abandon the official
    \ngovernment rhetoric of demonization of Israel and the Jews and to
    \npublicly denounce this wanton act of anti-Semitic violence.”<\/p>\n

    Separately, the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center said
    \nSunday that Chavez’s attacks on Israel and the Jewish community had
    \n“set the stage” for the incident.<\/p>\n

    “This was no mere hate crime from the margins of society, but a
    \nreflection of President Chavez’s campaign to demonize Israel and her
    \nsupporters,” the organization said. “For this dangerous escalation of
    \nhate against a minority to stop, President Chav <\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n


    \n<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    \n
    <\/div>\n

    From:<\/span><\/strong> Haluk Demirbag,
    \n<\/span><\/p>\n

    Subject:<\/strong> Official: Aliya from Turkey to double<\/p>\n

    \n\n\n\n
    \n

    Israil senelerdir say\u0131lar\u0131 az bile olsa de\u011ferleri \u00e7ok olan Turkiyeli Musevi <\/span><\/h1>\n

    karde\u015flerimizi \u0130sraile g\u00f6\u00e7e itmek i\u00e7in \u00e7ok yol denedi. Tayyip ve Simon <\/span><\/h1>\n

    amcalar\u0131n dan\u0131\u015f\u0131kl\u0131 d\u00f6\u011f\u00fc\u015f yapabilece\u011fini neden kimse d\u00fc\u015f\u00fcnemiyor? <\/span><\/h1>\n

    Bir ta\u015fla iki ku\u015f vuruluyor:<\/span><\/h1>\n

    1. Tayyip secimler i\u00e7in m\u00fcthi\u015f bir hamle yap\u0131yor
    \n2. Simon amca da, senelerdir dan\u0131\u015fmanlar\u0131n\u0131n Israil’e \u00e7ekebilmek i\u00e7in akla
    \nkaray\u0131 se\u00e7ti\u011fi T\u00fcrk milletinden ayr\u0131lmak istemeyen T\u00fcrkiye Musevilerine,
    \nbilet kesiyor… <\/strong><\/p>\n

    Yak\u0131n zamanda G\u00fcrcistan’\u0131 hat\u0131rlayal\u0131m…<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Siyonizmin g\u00fc\u00e7lenmesi i\u00e7in sahte ve kontroll\u00fc anti-semitizm ispatl\u0131 ve iyi
    \nyaz\u0131lm\u0131\u015f \u00e7izilmi\u015f bir yoldur.<\/strong>
    \n
    \nEski t\u00fcfek Simon amca da Tayyip de ne yapt\u0131\u011f\u0131n\u0131 biliyor kendi hedefleri a\u00e7\u0131s\u0131ndan… <\/strong><\/p>\n

    T\u00fcrkiye’de olabilecek herhangi bir anti-semitizim \u00e7\u0131k\u0131\u015f\u0131na kar\u015f\u0131
    \nherkesin duyarl\u0131 ve uyan\u0131k olmas\u0131 laz\u0131m. Biz as\u0131rlard\u0131r ba\u011fr\u0131m\u0131zda
    \nsaklad\u0131\u011f\u0131m\u0131z, koruyup kollad\u0131\u011f\u0131m\u0131z sevgili Musevi dostlar\u0131m\u0131z\u0131 ve
    \npeygamberlerin torunlar\u0131n\u0131 kimseye vermek istemiyoruz, Israil dahil,\u00a0 onlar
    \nbize Osmanl\u0131 atalar\u0131m\u0131z\u0131n emaneti!!!<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Official: Aliya from Turkey
    \nto double<\/h1>\n

    <\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    ez’s hate campaign must be denounced by all leaders in the Americas and beyond.”<\/p>\n

    —————–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By ETGAR LEFKOVITS The number of Jews expected to immigrate to Israel from Turkey this year is likely to double compared to last year, but the level remains extremely low despite surging anti-Israel and anti-Semitic incidents in the predominantly Muslim country, a Jewish Agency for Israel official said Sunday. A Turkish demonstrator displays a shoe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":107015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,148,155,607],"tags":[997],"class_list":["post-9073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-armenian-question","category-israel","category-palestinianna","category-switzerland","tag-davos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}