WORLD : Israeli Invites Soviet Immigrants
Israel’s ambassador to Bonn urged Soviet Jewish immigrants today to seek refuge first in the Jewish state, instead of Germany.
Ambassador Benjamin Navon, in an interview with the Berlin daily Neue Zeit, said Israel is troubled that Soviet Jews fleeing anti-Semitism and dismal living conditions are streaming to newly united Germany.
“This migration brings us certain difficulties. They want to come to Germany as refugees. But this is contrary to the Zionist position that since the state of Israel has existed, there can be no more Jewish refugees in the world,” he said.
“The issue of refugees is totally unacceptable for us. If they leave the Soviet Union, they should come to their old and new homeland Israel, where they are wanted and loved.
“If they want to emigrate (again) from there, that is their own free decision. Then they would be going as emigrants, not as refugees,” Navon said.
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