Public opinion as seen in polls is full of contradictions. In my On Active Service in War and Peace, I noted the fact that public opinion polls on Vietnam (ca 1967) would receive high yeses to the question, "do you support the president?" But when at the same time people were offered a number of policy options -- some directly at odds with the president, such as withdrawal -- they went for it. This doesn't mean that people can't think. In this case they were at the same time expressing their customary respect for the office while endorsing very different policies.
So I wouldn't see emigration today as a direct and simple rejection of Israeli policies, but certainly with connections of this sort.
Jesse
----- Original Message ----- From: "Joel Schalit" <managingeditor at tikkun.org> To: <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org> Sent: Thursday, August 03, 2006 12:40 AM Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Israel demographics?
> yup - this is all totally correct. i rarely hear political arguments
> for departing. generally, its framed in economic terms, which is its
> own set of problems.....
>
> in terms of the high level of departures in 2004, that also
> corresponds to when the israeli economy was at perhaps its lowest
> point since the early 50s due to a combination of structural
> adjustment policies and the Intifada.
>
>
> On Aug 2, 2006, at 9:25 PM, Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> >
> > On Aug 3, 2006, at 12:18 AM, Jesse Lemisch wrote:
> >
> >> I appreciate the responses but wish for some generalization. Are
> >> people
> >> saying that there is significant migration from Israel to the US?
> >> If so,
> >> why: why are they leaving? Is it easy for them to get into the US?
> >> Are
> >> people leaving Israel for other destinations? And please recall my
> >> original
> >> posting, concerning emigration as possibly some pre-political
> >> expression,
> >> people who perhaps approve of Israeli aggressiveness but more and
> >> more don't
> >> want to live with its fruits. Or is this a misreading?
> >
> > Met an Israeli hedge fund guy the other day - smart, worldly,
> > cynical, thought the invasion of Lebanon is a disaster. He used to
> > divide his time between Tel Aviv & NYC - now he's here.
> >
> > From the Israeli bizpeople on the UWS I've talked to, they were
> > sick of the economy, sick of Histadrut, sick of war.
> >
> > <http://www.cabalamat.org/weblog/art_428.html>
> >
> >
> > According to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics (see http://
> > www.cbs.gov.il/yarhon/e1_e.htm) here is the balance of movement of
> > Jews into Israel (immigrants and potential immigrants plus Israelis
> > entering, minus Israelis leaving):
> > 1995: +32K
> > 1996: +50K
> > 1997: +22K
> > 1998: +46K
> > 1999: +47K
> > 2000: +38K
> > 2001: +23K
> > 2002: +12K
> > 2003: - 9K
> > first 2 months of 2004: -13K !!
> > Perhaps for the first time in Israel's history, the flow of Jewish
> > immigration has reversed. Israel is now a net exporter of Jews to
> > the diaspora. Extrapolating from the first two months of 2004, it
> > is likely that the numbers for the whole of 2004 and 2005 will be
> > at least -50K, larger in magnitude (but opposite in direction) than
> > the average annual immigration into Israel in the previous decade.
> >
> > [...]
> > ___________________________________
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> >
>
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