Prime Minister Benjamin believes that having Israel join the US Visa Waiver Program would dramatically increase the number of Jewish Americans who make aliyah, Israel Hayom has learned.
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Netanyahu made this prediction during the weekly cabinet session on Sunday, dismissing the fear raised by some that the program would lead to a movement in the other direction.
"Israel's economy is getting stronger; we will outpace the US, and we have already outpaced Europe," Netanyahu said. "We will lead to aliyah from the West by would-be immigrants wishing to improve their [financial] wellbeing. Of course, there is also the rise of antisemitism, but this will not be the only driving force for moving to Israel, the flow will be great."
Netanyahu added that things could unfold the way they did after he liberalized the foreign currency market in Israel during the 1990s. "Look at what we did with these reforms. At the time, you could not move money out of Israel, and people warned that our measures would open up the floodgates. But then the exact opposite happened: Foreign currency actually moved into Israel." According to Netanyahu, "We cannot safeguard Zionism by fencing it in or by restricting citizens' movements." Regional Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, who served as the Israeli ambassador to the US, said that Israel should seize the moment by joining the program. "There is a window of opportunity that will remain open for several months; we might not be able to do this afterward, and the US ambassador is eager to help us,'" Dermer told the cabinet.
A key metric to determine whether Israel qualifies for the program is the volume of rejected visa applications in the review period between September 2021 and September 2022. Among US officials, the conventional wisdom is that the upcoming announcement would have this figure stand below 3%, which would clear a major hurdle in joining the program, although finalizing the process would require Israel to pass several pieces of legislation, some of which were deliberated by the cabinet on Sunday.
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