The attempt by anti-Israel elements in Ireland to promote legislation that would define economic relations with Jews beyond the pre-1967 armistice line as a criminal offense was unfortunately nothing new. What separated the Irish attempt at a boycott of Israel was a remark by one of the country's officials who promoted the legislation, Senator David Norris. Norris, who for some reason considers himself an Israel "expert," accused Russian immigrants to Israel of ruining the country by making it lean to the political Right.
The similarities between Norris' statement and the beliefs of many on the Israeli Left regarding Israeli Jews from the former Soviet Union are astonishing. Norris, a one-time leading presidential candidate in Ireland, has been riding the wave of anti-Israel propaganda in recent years and prides himself on being anti-Zionist. Israel's haters can at times correctly identify historic milestones. After all, even a broken clock is right twice a day. And so, I am happy to confirm the assessment of Norris, the "expert," that aliyah from the former Soviet Union has, in fact, changed the face of the only democratic country in the Middle East. This huge wave of immigration was the end of the dream of the Irish senator and his ilk of witnessing the dissolution of Zionist Israel.
Before the mass arrival of Soviet Jews, many believed the future of Zionism was in question, if only for demographic reasons. While the Israelis saw this as a threat and the Arabs and their supporters saw this as a blessing, both sides were correct in their assessments. Late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's boast that the womb of the Arab woman was his strongest weapon against the Jews was not disconnected from reality. But immigration from the former Soviet Union served to remove the demographic issue from the agenda. The Jewish majority achieved as a result of this mass immigration allows us to now smile at the bleak predictions in the 1980s of our demise. It was God's gift of immigration that allowed Israel's population to instantaneously increase by 20%, solving numerous problems affecting every aspect of life, from guaranteeing there would be enough recruits for the Israel Defense Forces to providing a solution to the lack of medical, education and elite technology experts.
Immigration from the former Soviet Union destroyed the anti-Zionist dream not just as a result of the demographic victory it provided and the tremendous contribution to human capital, but because it strengthened Israel's spirit. To Norris' regret, a wave of Jewish immigration from the former Soviet Union washed over Israel at just the right time, as circles on the Israeli Left began to withdraw from the principles of Zionism and speak of a "state for all its citizens," meaning a state for all its nationalities. It was at precisely this moment, when some of the grandchildren of the pioneers began to lose their way that the pioneer's heirs arrived from the Soviet Union and reminded everyone of the simple truths so painful to our enemies around the world: The land of Israel is the land of the Jewish people and we are not about to leave.
The immigrants have ensured a Zionist majority in Israel, and the natural inclination of many of them is to identify with the values of the nationalist camps. David Norris is right to worry.
