Speech #860215062

Yet Israel could not close its doors to the multitudes who needed entry. For to have done so would have been to deny its own roots and spiritual heritage. The proclamation of independence had stated: The State of Israel will be open to Jewish immigration and the ingathering of exiles. And the exiles camefrom 4 continents and 70 countries. They came individually. in single family units. and in triplegeneration patriarchal clans. They came from almost as great a variety of backgrounds as this world can offer. From the DP camps in Europe came the wan survivors of the Hitler horrors. the refugees from central Europe and those who could get out from the Iron Curtain countries of Eastern Europe. From the Near East came the victims of Arab retaliationSyrian Jews from across the border. Iraqi Jews from the bazaars of Baghdad and the hills of Kurdistan. Yemenite Jews whose ways had not changed from the days of the Old Testament. They emigrated from north Africacosmopolitans from Cairo and Casablanca and rural groups from the remote Atlas Mountains. They emigrated from more distant AsiaIranian Jews from Teheran and Isfahan and Indian Jews from TravancoreCochin. From England. from South Africa. from New Zealand. from the United States. and from Canada. they came as pioneers to contribute their knowledge and skills to the building up of the reborn state. During the first 31 years of modern Israels existence. over 684.000 entered Israel. taxing its limited facilities to the utmost. By now the total number of new immigrants has reached almost a million. This means that the Jewish population of 650.000 at the time of Israeli independence has had to absorb twice its own number in a scant dozen years. This was not merely a matter of opening the doors and making a place for people prepared for the rigors of resettlement in a harsh and challenging environment. For many of the new immigrants did not come. as did the early wave of settlers. with a sense of mission and a zeal for breaking ground in agricultural pioneering. Nor did they come. as did the latter wave of prestate settlers. with the skills and trades and professions vitally needed in a newly developing country. Most arrived without money and means of any sort.