As an Israeli citizen based in Berlin - one of an estimated 15-20K -it's my understanding that despite German passport generosity, there is an annual quota on Jewish immigration. It's been in place for a few years.
As far as david Levy's figures go, one should keep in mind two things: First, the age range of a lot of these co-citizens. Half are probably 60 +.
Second, that the rush of younger Israelis applying represents probably the last generation of their families eligible under German law. There is a cutoff point.
Not that this should matter so much. I can claim no such family citizenship rights, but the Germans have been very accommodating. As they ought to be to every foreigner.
Joel
Sent from my iPhone
On Jun 6, 2011, at 6:35 PM, Wojtek S <wsoko52 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Well, I hold two passports for the same reason, even though I live in
> the US. Keeping the back door open is a smart thing to do these days.
>
> And as far as voting is concerned, this is a rather meaningless ritual
> whose main purpose is to vent frustrations with the status quo rather
> than express support for a particular political party.
>
>
> Wojtek
>
>
>
> On Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 10:44 AM, David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> The same State of Israel which has been pushing the US, through its domestic
>> lobbying tentacle, AIPAC, to attack Iran for reasons of national security? What
>> is going on here? Same thing that’s always going on. The rich are getting
>> richer, even while they’re preparing their escapes: 100,000 Israelis hold German
>> passports, with 7,000 more procuring them every year. Gideon Levy comments, “The
>> foreign passport has become an insurance policy against a rainy day. It turns
>> out there are more and more Israelis who are thinking that day may eventually
>> come,” a day which they hasten every time they leave it to the radicals to join
>> the non-violent protests in the West Bank and East Jerusalem that are one of the
>> more promising routes to avoid regional disaster.
>>
>> But then Levy oddly comments: “If we had a leadership worthy of the name, one
>> that instead of sowing anxieties did something to reduce them, and instead of
>> terrifying us instilled hopes in us, then the lines at the German Embassy would
>> have become shorter long ago.” Who does he think is voting for the governments
>> that create a climate of fear so as to continue Israeli militarized
>> accumulation? Who does he think are the constituencies of the “peace” parties
>> that are miraculously never able to make peace? The same people sitting in the
>> top 10 percent of Israeli society, the same ones procuring the passports to
>> leave when the monster they’ve created sets off regional conflagration.
>>
>> http://www.maxajl.com/?p=5400
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>
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