New initiative comes with price

That's why the news coming out of his Ministry according to which he will initiate moves to bring back former Israelis to the country is odd. His plan is to bring back those who possess the skills, education, and ability to contribute to strengthening the country and its hold on the Jewish-Israeli heart.

Seemingly this is a nice idea. After all, we are suffering from a serious brain drain problem, particularly because the best academicians enjoy far-reaching possibilities in Western countries, while here they face the burden of fighting for jobs and a livelihood.

Do we really want them?

The problem with the Immigration Absorption Ministry's initiative, which is apparently also supported by the Aliyah Department of the World Zionist Organization, is that it features several logical flaws.

First, if those are indeed the former Israelis we should be fighting for, apparently we are talking about successful people who do not need encouragement anyway.

Second, as is the case with any human endeavor, here too we'll have many charlatans that will take advantage of the offered benefits, return to Israel for a certain period, and leave again. After all, they will not renounce the Green Card or European citizenship. They will see Israel as a sort of testing ground for their professional lives.

We certainly do not need this kind of people. They will not save us. What's worse, they will arrive here with their families and children who may adopt the same exploitative life philosophy.

The Zionist idea

The main risk, however, is to the way the State of Israel is perceived. Israel's existence is based on the Zionist idea. Only recently, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called on Moscow Jews to pack their bags and move to Israel. Today too we adhere to the notion of Jewish Zionist education as a bridge for realizing the Zionist vision.

Those kinds of initiatives undermine the essence of the Zionist idea. Instead of acting within Israel to create the appropriate atmosphere for taking advantage of human genius, they turn the country into a revolving door for Jews: If it's convenient, they'll move here – if it's inconvenient, they'll leave.

In this state of affairs, the sense of commitment and solidarity could disappear. What's worse, the legitimacy of the Zionist idea, which enables us to maintain offices and institutions at Jewish communities abroad, would also disappear.