The ethnic perspective of the selective immigration in the 1950s

Abstract

The mass immigration, immediately after the declaration of independence, was an outcome of two major changes: the realization that the main goal of the Jewish State is to serve as a haven for Jews, and the realization that Jews in Moslem countries face persecutions as well as European Jews.
By 1951, a selective immigration policy was implemented. Although it is usually argued that economic crisis was the main reason for stopping the mass immigration, the paper will emphasize the ethnic bias of the new policy.
In addition to economical recovery, the paper suggests that the selective policy was meant to achieve a more balance society from the ethnic point of view. While some policy-makers were opposed to any prejudice toward Jews from Moslem countries, other saw them as a threat and saw the selective policy as a tool to prevent their entrance into the Israeli society. A third attitude saw that policy as means to achieve cultural transformation among young immigrants from North Africa.
The paper will also examine the link between the selective policy and Jewish community in jeopardy by extending the discussion to 1954-1956, when the state of North African Jewry deteriorated.

Full text

The Ethnic Perspective of the
Selective Immigration in the
1950’s
Avi Picard – Rutgers University

Immigration policy Dilemmas
The aim of Zionism Attitude toward Jews
from Moslem countries

Rescue Versus Building
•Rescue
•Zionism should provide
a safe haven for
persecuted Jews.
•all Jews interested in
Aliyah should be
allowed to come.
•Building
•To establish an
infrastructure for a new
society
•Immigrants are
welcomed as long as
they contribute to the
development of Eretz
Israel
•Immigration should be
controlled and slow

The changes in the late 1930’s
Free immigration
policy
•The National Home
Grew stronger
•Antisemitism in
Europe
•Immigration
countries close their
gates
•A need for a Jewish
Majority in Palestine

Attitude toward Jews from Moslem countries

The Colonial Heritage
The Colonial Heritage
Attitude of reservation

The National Ethos
The differences among the members of the
nation are secondary and should be ignored
Germans
Polish
Romanians
Iraqis
Moroccans
Yemenites
J
E
W
S
Solidarity

1940’s – The Eastern
Orientation
•The result of the Holocaust
•The need for a Jewish
Majority
•the Israeli-Arab conflict
undermined the civil status
and the security of Jews in
Arab countries
•Jews from Asia and Africa
are included in the
immigration plans

The way to the mass
immigration
The principal of
Rescue
The Eastern
Orientation
1948-1951
680,000 immigrants
Half of them were
from Asia and
Africa.

Mass Immigration Malaise
Physical and Economic
Problems
Losing Western
Identity
The Second Demographic Threat

Immigration to Israel by origin 1948-
1952

World Jewry by 1948

The (second) Demographic
Fear
•Ben Gurion: “the character of the yishuv
would be impaired and its pioneering
image would fade away.”
•Pinhas Lavon (General Secretary of the Histadrut):
“The establishment here of a Levantine
people instead of a nation characterized
by the Godly image of the Hebrew labor
movement… Israel would become a
Jewish version of Syria, Lebanon and
Egypt”

The Selective Immigration
•Immigrants should be
–Young
–Healthy
–Willing to hard work
–Willing to go to
agricultural
settlements for at
least two years

Was the Selection Policy Ethnically
Biased?
•Shlomo Zalman Shragai:
“when the Selection rules
were conceived, they were
made for North Africa…
Nobody thought that there is
a problem regarding
England or Belgium. All the
restrictions were for North
Africa. With Jews from other
countries we were not so
strict” (February 1954).

The goals of selection -
restriction
•Giora Yosftal about immigration plan:
80% will come from the Mizrachi countries […] I say
that the country is in a certain danger, its moral and
social existence are in danger from this immigration. I
am not talking about external absorption conditions
[…] but what we have from a social point of view […].
Ninety percent of the transit camps now consist of the
Oriental Jews with their gloomy lives […]. It is said that
life in the country is taking on a Levantine character, I
am sure that this is so, some of us already fear the
immigrants. When there was the difficult immigration of
the Holocaust survivors, a difficult immigration from a
social point of view, we did not stand opposite them,
we stood together with them, it was possible to identify
with them, but this is not the position now […]. I live in
fear that the country is attaining a character which
cannot draw a person who is not compelled to
immigrate. I dare to ask: when will we build according
to the forces now arriving in the country”

The Goals of selection -
acculturation
Moshe Kol:
•If we will bring the
young generation
first, we can take care
of them, educate
them and prepare
them to assist us in
welcoming their
families. If we don’t
do it we will drowned
in a sea of
levantinisation
Facilitate the Melting pot

The Goals of Selection
•Economic goals
•Preventing immigration from the Moslem
countries
•Creating a successful melting pot by
taking the young generation first

Solidarity tested
Tunisia and Morocco 1954-
1956
•The Struggle against French colonialism
and the question of Communities in
Jeopardy
•Free emigration at risk under Arab
government
•Regulation of immigration according to
the absorption capacity of “ship to
village” policy
•1956 – Morocco forbids the emigration of
Jews
•100,000 Jews were trapped in Morocco

Solidarity resume
•Mossad’s clandestine operation: smuggle
Jews out of morocco
• 1961: The Moroccan government let the
Jews to leave the country as long as it did
not become public, and the explicit
destination was not Israel.
•All restrictions of the selective policy were
abandoned