[lbo-talk] Israelis want a second passport...

Joel Schalit jschalit at gmail.com
Sun Jun 5 01:51:29 PDT 2011


As was stated before, this is actually both old news, Joanna, and, in its own Counterpunch kind of way, non-news. Israelis tend to hold on to second passports, or obtain them when they have the opportunity to do so. For example, I've carried two since I was ten. I'm forty four now.

The only thing new about the dual passport situation in Israel is that since the enlargement of the EU, more Israelis have applied for second passports from Poland, Hungary etc, not Germany. Germany had a much smaller pre-Hitler Jewish population than Poland. It makes sense.

Amongst my peers and acquaintances who have obtained second citizenships like this, the primary motivation is economic, not ideological. Yes, most of these people are leftwing, anti-occupation, etc. But first and foremost, they want to leave, to make a living, in as easy a way as possible, in a place closer to home than the US.

There are clear political motivations for some that are primary, without a doubt. However for most, they are ultimately secondary. In closing, Israelis always explore additional passport/citizenship rights during times of crisis. It has always been the case.

What's not discussed, and what makes articles like these so 'revelatory' is basic information like that. Ignore the stuff about the Russian immigrants being ideologically disappointed in Israel. They're a lot more rightwing than the article describes.

Joel

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 4, 2011, at 5:42 AM, 123hop at comcast.net wrote:


>
> http://www.counterpunch.org/lamb06032011.html
>
> I'd call this good news.
>
> Joanna
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk



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