On May 17, 1977, the Likud ousted the long-dominant Alignment bloc for the first time. In doing so, Israel’s first non-leftist prime minister, Menachem Begin, forever changed the face and dynamics of Israeli democracy. Whereas the Likud and its predecessor Herut had played a constant opposition role in the first three decades of the state, from that day on, the Israeli political system would be subject to true electoral competition and its governments’ ideologies began moving back and forth in future elections.

Although the Likud’s ideological roots were and continue to be tied to the ideology of Ze’ev Jabotinsky’s Revisionist Zionism, the party’s 1977 election victory was the result of a much wider revolt against the ruling political elites of the Labor party, specifically its ethnic makeup. With immigration having changed the face of the country since its establishment in 1948, by the late 1970s, Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews from Arab and eastern countries comprised a majority of the country’s Jewish population. The Labor Party’s predecessors who had been in power until that time, an elite political class groomed by David Ben-Gurion, were predominantly Ashkenazi Jews.

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The time has come to state the obvious. The attempt to reach an agreement between Israelis and Palestinians via a so-called “two-state solution” has failed. Since the early 1990s, Israeli leaders have tried every possible way to reach a peace accord with the Palestinians based on this formula. There have been direct and indirect negotiations, public peace conferences and discreet backchannel communication, and even unilateral pullbacks that were based on the false assumption that they would eventually lead to the states of Israel and Palestine living side by side.

Instead, we must realize that for the foreseeable future, this conflict must be managed, not resolved. At a later point—if and when the Palestinians are truly serious about living with us in peace and harmony—then a “three-state” solution must be achieved based on trilateral agreements between Israel, Jordan and Egypt.

It is time that our leaders rectify the mistake of the past nineteen years and cease the unnecessary and harmful discourse about the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

Instead, we should work towards the eventual goal of extending full Israeli sovereignty to the majority of Judea and Samaria which is mostly made up of Jewish communities and empty land. We would not annex areas that are currently heavily populated with Palestinians.

At the same time, we would offer the Palestinians physical linkage between the Palestinian Authority-controlled areas where they currently enjoy full self-rule. Finally, we would ensure the further removal of roadblocks so that Palestinians may travel freely from town to town without being hindered by multiple security checks.

While the extension of Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria may not yet be the official platform of my Likud Party, I am confident that it will soon be. Last September when the Palestinians were threatening a UN vote on their statehood, I began to caucus my fellow Likud Members of Knesset. A large majority of them were in favor of annexing the Jewish communities of the West Bank if the General Assembly approved the Palestinian request.

Once this extended version of Palestinian autonomy is achieved—and if the Palestinians have begun to honor their previous commitments including continuing to operate against terrorist elements in the PA and curbing the non-stop anti-Israel and anti-Semitic incitement in Palestinian society—we can begin negotiations on a final-status agreement. These negotiations eventually should lead to a regional pact together with Jordan and Egypt that will provide the Palestinians with land and other political rights across these three entities, but not a distinct Palestinian state.

This solution makes sense due to the roles that both Jordan and Egypt play in our region. It is well known that Palestinians constitute 70 percent of the Jordanian population. Egypt too has played a crucial role in Palestinian political society. The country has often served as political mentor to the Palestinian leadership and since the opening of the Rafah crossing, trade between the Gaza Strip and Egypt have brought these two societies even closer together. In fact, many Palestinians already enjoy residency in Egypt that permits them to work and travel in the country. Most importantly, many elements in Jordan and Egypt often tell foreign visitors in confidence that a completely independent Palestinian state is not in their national interests either.
Once Israel annexes the Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria, the remaining Palestinian towns and cities will be incorporated either under PA self-rule or officially as part of Jordan and Egypt—whichever the three sides prefer. Of paramount importance, however, is that there will be no intervention by Israel in the daily lives of Palestinians.

The PA will instead enjoy links to Jordan and Egypt that will allow them to further develop their nascent economy. It is my hope that such an agreement will allow the Palestinian economy to continue to grow in the unprecedented manner that has resulted from Israeli policies in Judea and Samaria over the past few years. It is in the best interest of all the regional partners that the Palestinians continue to enjoy more freedom and prosperity.

I realize that there are many important details about this plan that will eventually need to be explored and resolved between Israel, Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinians. This is why all the parties will have to commit to serious negotiations when the time is right. We cannot, however, begin such negotiations until we fully defeat the terrorists who constantly attack our citizens, ensure that regional powers such as Iran no longer are in a position to wipe us “off the map,” and, most importantly, when our adversaries fully accept our right to exist here in our historic homeland.

If we are realistic, this formulation probably will not happen in the next few years. While this reality may not please American presidents who prefer quick negotiations that culminate with great fanfare in a signing ceremony at the White House, we must be grounded in the true nature of being citizens of the Middle East.

Nevertheless, it is my sincere hope that the day will come when Israel will no longer have to be responsible for the lives of the Palestinian residents of Judea and Samaria, and when an enhanced relationship with our neighbors will allow for a fair agreement that safeguards Israel’s borders and protects our citizens. Until that day arrives, our neighbors and friends around the world must realize that the period of Israel naively advocating a fully independent Palestinian State has forever passed.

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The unfortunate incident which took place in the Jordan Valley on Saturday where an IDF officer was forced to fight off an anti-Israel activist has proven once again that we are not dealing correctly with this latest attack on the very legitimacy of our existence.

We witnessed this regrettable phenomenon again this week with the ludicrous internal debate that has surrounded the “flytilla” attack on Israel. Our society is busying itself with an absurd internal debate that includes calls from the extreme Left to welcome these anti-Israel activists and open a dialogue with them.

This is not only misguided, but actually endangers the foundations of our society.

Attempts to explain the rationality behind the Zionist dream of building a state in our historic homeland will simply not work with those who are attempting infiltrate Israel’s borders only to attack us from within.

It is time that we recognize the reality we are faced with. The State of Israel is at war. This war is being fought on a completely different battlefield than in the past, one in which the word de-legitimization has replaced bullets and provocative actions such as the flotilla have replaced tanks and fighter planes.

Nevertheless, we must not be confused by this new type of warfare. Just as we did not hesitate to confront to violent acts perpetuated by our enemies in the past, we cannot waver in our resolve against this new threat.

Would we allow a suicide bomber into our country so that we could attempt a “dialogue” with him? Of course not.

Here, too, we must not be naïve and bury our heads in the sand. While the “delegitimization battle” may be sometimes confusing and seem less dangerous then actual acts of war, the implications of capitulation will be just as dire for Israel’s future as a military loss would be.

TO COMBAT this new form of warfare we must be just as creative now as we have been in the past on the traditional battlefield.

We must immediately implement a three-pronged approach to keeping these terrorists out of Israel: prevent, arrest and deport.

Our diplomats and envoys abroad must work with our allies around the world to ensure that these troublemakers never make it on a plane in the first place, and our security and immigration officials here in Israel should ensure that those who do get through are arrested and then either jailed or deported.

During this past week Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his ministers prepared well for the current onslaught and the results of having a well thought-out policy are evident in the fact that the “flytilla” we were warned so much about ended relatively quietly. They should be commended for their vigilance.

Still, as we saw with the Jordan Valley incident these steps must be further strengthened and stringently implemented.

The militant activist from Denmark who attacked the IDF officer should have never been in a position to do so. He never should have been allowed entry into Israel. Once he was allowed in, he should have been arrested and tried at the first sign of illegal activity. Even now, it is unacceptable that he is walking free in our country after violently attacking an officer. He must be arrested and deported immediately.

The State of Israel must defend itself against anarchists and all those who openly state that their only reason for entering the country is to work from within to ensure its destruction. We have seen what has happened in the past when we allow such activities to go on unchecked. What began as “non-violent” protests against our right to build a security fence to defend against suicide bombers has turned in to weekly riots in places like Bil’in where rocks, concrete blocks and firebombs are regularly hurled at our soldiers.

Theses so-called activists not only take part in these violent attacks on our security forces, but also gather intelligence against Israel and donate to organizations that bankroll terrorism against our citizens.

While I am a fervent advocate of hasbara (public diplomacy) outreach – I have personally spent countless hours, days and weeks traveling around the world speaking out on behalf of our legitimate rights – we must also know when the time for talk has ended. In dealing those who openly call for the destruction of the Jewish state, it is a waste of time to make “the case for Israel.” Instead, we must meet this challenge as we have similar threats in the past, with creativity and determination, to ensure that the interests of the State of Israel and the Jewish people are safeguarded against those who seek to hurt us.

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More than half a year has gone by since September 2011. But for long months the sole uttering of this word was full of significance and dark omens. September was the key month, the month in which Palestinians had announced they would present before the United Nations their claim to be recognized as an independent state.

The aim of this diplomatic offensive was to skip the essential negotiations with Israel in order to obtain benefits without being obliged to any compensation. They expected to be recognized as a State without having to grant in exchange recognition and peace to Israel.

In spite of how evident these intentions were, there was strong criticism to the government headed by Netanyahu. Countless journalists and intellectuals held the Prime Minister responsible for the imminent and crushing diplomatic defeat Israel was to suffer in this traditionally hostile international forum.

In order to set that stage suitably, the Palestinians had systematically refused to go back to the negotiations table.

The trick was simple. They hide their lack of will to negotiate behind the demand for previous requirements, expecting that the most difficult and controversial issues should be settled before any negotiation ever took place.

It has to do basically with two conditions: the freezing of the construction of housing units in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and the acceptance by Israel of the so called “1967 Borders”.

As far as the first point is concerned, the current government was the only one in the history of Israel that agreed to implement a moratorium in the construction for 10 months. That implied no advance whatsoever.

As regards the borders, it is worth pointing out that the 1967 Borders were never such; it is a ceasefire line that establishes a limit between territories that were conquered in a defensive military action against Jordan and Egypt.

The Palestinians never claimed any right or any State while these territories were under Arab rule.

The Palestinians intend through these pre-requisites to legitimate their own narrative and impose their vision of the conflict. If their real intention were to achieve peace, the most suitable way would be precisely not imposing any previous condition whatsoever.

As Prime Minister Netanyahu stated at the UN, addressing Abbas, “Let’s stop negotiating about negotiating and let us start negotiating right away.”

But obviously this is not in the least the real intention of Abbas. In fact the Palestinian President has been trying for months to solve the internal struggle with Hamas, which governs Gaza and firmly opposes any type of recognition and agreement with Israel. It is clear that if Abbas prioritizes Palestinian national reconciliation he cannot advance in a peace process that Hamas rejects.

His own group Al Fatah has also repeatedly refused to accept the Jewish ties with Israel’s Homeland, he does not recognize the right of the Jewish People to have their own State and therefore does not recognize the Jewish character of Israel.

Maybe some would be willing to receive a Palestinian State, but not as a challenge to develop the economy and the society of a new political entity, but as a platform to continue the fight against Israel in better conditions.

The Ambassador of the Palestinian Authority in Lebanon Abdullah Abdullah stated clearly in an interview to the Lebanese paper Daily Star, “When we have a State accepted as a member of the United Nations, this will not be the end of the conflict. This is a solution to the conflict. It is only a new frame that will change the rules of the game.”

All over the world analysts counted the countries that would vote in favor of the Palestinian petition. The great majority of the countries expressed their support, many of them from our region and (unfortunately) our own country. Just a few thought Israel could reverse such an unfavorable international situation. However, in order for the acceptance to have real effects, it was necessary for it to be approved, not by the General Assembly but by the Security Council which has 15 members, 5 of which are permanent.

The United States had already announced its veto. However, the Palestinian proposal did not even achieve a simple majority within the Security Council. Europe suggested refloating bilateral negotiations through the mediation of the Quartet and Colombia spoke out against recognition without agreement with Israel.

Netanyahu successfully navigated this real “diplomatic Intifada”. Not only did he manage to stop the Palestinian impulse, but he also made it possible to release Guilad Shalit, (a soldier kidnapped for 5 years) and he also installed in the world public opinion the most urgent national issue: the Iranian threat.

Although the UN would have expelled any member country who made an open call to destroy another (except if the threatened country were Israel), at least Iran’s nuclear program is finally present in the international agenda.

Finally the United States and Europe understand the danger for world peace Iran with nuclear capacity poses, taking into account its ideology, its manner of operating and the strong bonds with terrorist and fundamentalist organizations all over the world.

Every day the economic sanctions imposed to Iran are made stricter, in the hope that it will not be necessary to take military actions, since its economy depends to a great extent on oil exports.

In spite of the success achieved, there are still many pending tasks for Israel in the diplomatic field.

It is necessary to expose the Palestinian scheme that appeals to international solidarity to fight against Israel. The world must become aware that Abbas seeks unity of action with Hamas and Hamas is the subsidiary of Iran in Gaza.

As Ali Jameni, supreme leader of the Islamic Revolution acknowledged a few weeks ago, “Iran supports all the countries or groups that attack the cancerous tumor that is Israel”. And in his recent visit to Teheran, Ismail Haniyeh, Prime Minister of Hamas, addressed the assembled crowd promising “never to recognize Israel” and that “the fight (of the Palestinians) will go on until the liberation of all the Palestinian land and Jerusalem”.

Dr.Gerardo Stuczynski is the President of Confederación Sionista Latinoamericana (Latin American Zionist federation) Member of the World Zionist Executive

As disagreement arises over ways to handle the Iranian threat of nuclear proliferation, several facts must first be acknowledged before a decision is made.

Fact number one. Iran hid its uranium enrichment program for 18 years. Such covert behavior indicates a level of unlawful activity that is subject to scrutiny.

Fact number two. Iran has been uncooperative with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The IAEA’s latest report from November 2011, highlighted several areas of concern, raising suspicion that Iran was in fact pursuing production of nuclear weapons. The report mentioned over ten suspicious areas including weapons testing and experimenting with nuclear weaponry, weaponisation, and in depth intelligence on ballistic warheads. This led the IAEA to conclude that Iran had carried out activities “relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device.” Moreover, the UN Security Council has approached President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to conduct meetings on the nuclear issue with an official letter sent in October. It is still awaiting Tehran’s reply. Previous talks held a last year in Turkey ended without progress.

Fact number three. Iran has continuously refused to comply with Security Council resolutions. Under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a signatory state has the right to enrich uranium to be used strictly as fuel for civil nuclear power. Any such activity must be conducted under the supervision of the IAEA. While Iran is under inspection, it maintains its prerogative to enrich uranium claiming that it is doing so for power station fuel and other peaceful purposes. It goes as far as to say that the UN resolutions are politically motivated and unjustified. UN Chief Ban Ki-moon has said that the responsibility is on Iran to prove its good intentions.

Recent meetings between the IAEA and Iran have collapsed, leading Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to declare that no “Pressures, sanctions and assassinations will bear no fruit. No obstacles can stop Iran’s nuclear work.”

Fact number four. There is a nuclear reactor plant at Bushehr. This reactor was originally built in the 1970s but only recently finished with help from the Russians. Russia intends to replace the reactors spent fuel with raw fuel, which could potentially be used to make a plutonium-based nuclear bomb. While the Bushehr plant does not enrich uranium, Russia’s involvement in the development of the facility, alleviates Iran from conducting its own enrichment program.

Fact number five. Tehran is still host to the American-installed research reactor that produces medical isotopes. The reactor is quickly running out of fuel, which has previously been provided from abroad. Several proposals have been made to remove Iran’s stock of low-enriched uranium out of the country and return it as higher-enriched fuel rods. The idea was to get the low-enriched stock out of Iran and prevent it from being potentially used for a nuclear device. The dangers lie with the actuality that the technology used to enrich uranium to the level needed for nuclear power can also be used to enrich it to the higher level which is used for nuclear explosion. This plan foiled when in May of 2010, Tehran announced it had agreed to ship its low-enriched uranium to Turkey. At the same time however, Iran also announced that it would continue to enrich other uranium domestically.

Fact number six. The official enrichment plant is located in a secret underground facility the city of Qom. This underground facility carries out enrichment of higher-grade uranium. The underground enrichment plant, revealed in 2009, is believed to be buried beneath 80 meters of rock and soil as means for providing protection against any military attacks. The IAEA criticized Iran for creating such a facility, stating that it should have been revealed much earlier. Iran argued that it did not violate any rules for having an underground nuclear plant. More disturbing is that in 2009 Iran said the plant, known as the Fordo fuel enrichment plant, would only enrich uranium up to 5% and would have 3,000 centrifuges. In June 2011 Iran announced that the purpose of the plant was now to enrich uranium to 20%, as well as carry out research and development. In January 2012 the IAEA confirmed that Iran had started the production of uranium enrichment up to 20% at the plant. A 20% enrichment, or higher-enriched fuel rods, is the necessary amount for producing nuclear weapons.

The aforementioned facts present the daunting truth about Iran’s nuclear intentions. The Iranian Regime has been inconsistent, uncooperative, and dismissive towards Western, UN, and EU appeals to halt its uranium enrichment programs.

The overly popular reply is somewhere along the lines of let us wait and see if Iran complies with additional sanctions. This was reiterated by US Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, who said that an Israeli attack on Iran would be “destabilizing” and “not prudent.” As well as US National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, during his visit to Israel, who said, “I think Israel, like everyone else in the world, should be giving a real chance to the approach we adopted: very serious economic sanctions and diplomatic pressure, and the readiness to negotiate with Iran.

While the international community decides to wait and see what Iran plans to do next is a ticking time bomb, pun intended.

Liron Milbar is the Director of Foreign Relations at World Likud

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Participants enjoyed a visit to a farm where they tried fresh milk, cheese and olive oil, sampled wine at a winery, and stopped off at various lookout points of historic landmarks in Samaria. Members also were given the opportunity to visit the archeological site at the Sebastia national park which was opened up for this special event.

At the conclusion of the tour, members arrived at the Mishkan Ehud Beit Midrash compound of Itamar, where they planted over 1,500 trees near a synagogue commemorating the Fogel Family. World Likud Chairman MK Danny Danon and fellow World Likud members came to this particular location to emphasize that the Jews who live in this region are here to stay and will continue to prosper. Danon stated that we were here to send a very clear message to our neighbors; that “we will be here forever, we will plant trees, we will build Jewish homes, we will build synagogues” and nothing will stop us from living here. Gershon Masika, Head of Samaria Regional Council and Rav Avichai Ronsky, Head of the Itamar Yeshiva, also attended the tree planting ceremony.

At first, when I was still attending the Jewish School in Rome, later on when I was Hanich and then Madrih in the Benè Akivà. In 1988 I became president of the Cultural Movement of the Jewish Students as it was necessary to do Hasbarah for Israel in schools and public Universities.  In 1993, for the first time I was elected Councillor of the Rome Jewish Community with a list called “For Israel” founded by me and from 1997 to 2008 I was Vice President of the Community. In that year I was elected President for two consecutive terms.  All was on the wake of the commitment to support Israel.

What was the event that affected you most?

Certainly it was the 9^th of October 1982 attack on Rome Synagogue, when the child Stefano Gaj Tachè was murdered by a Palestinian commando and my father Emanuel was seriously injured by fragmentation bombs.  He remained between life and death for three months and underwent several surgical interventions. It was the year in which I was supposed to spend the year of Achsharah with the B. A. and maybe making Aliyah. Instead I remained in Rome to help my parents in the work but I promised myself that I would achieve my “Aliyah” in Italy getting involved with Hasbarah, devoting myself every day to Israel and to my Community.

Another event was the first Gulf War and the various Demonstrations among which one with 2000 Israeli flags in January 1991 in Saint Peter Square.  However, the event of which I am most proud was the siege to the Rome Tribunal Palace following the infamous absolution of the nazi criminal Erik Priebke.  It was the afternoon and then the night between the 1^st and 2^nd of August. My friends and I physically prevented the nazi criminal to exit the Law Courts and negotiated with all the institutional authorities until the arrival – demanded by me – of the then Minister of Justice Mr Giovanni Maria Flick. In that hot August night we obtained his re-arrest. After a few months the infamous no-guilty verdict  was cancelled and after a second trial he was sentenced to life imprisonment for “crimes against humanity”.  Justice was carried out and in my and our small way from Rome we had avenged the victims of Nazism. One of the last opportunities of my generation.  It was a fact that allowed me to dedicate that victory to my grandparents killed at Auschwitz.

Do you think the relations between Israel and the Diaspora have changed in the last few years?

Unfortunately they have. Indeed, the fault is to be recognized on both sides. The true and genuine zionist ideals have been lost. The official representatives of the State of Israel in too many cases behave as simple bureaucrats and don’t put any longer their hearts into it. On our part as Jews of the Golah we lack that zionist education thanks to which Israel is Israel irrespective to who is at her government. That spirit is missing that made the Jews who survived the Shoah cry at the miracle, by which for the first time in our generation we had our own State that made us no more feel like “guests”.  We should both feel the humility to understand how to retrieve that spirit which was of the founding fathers of the State of Israel. Is a scandal to witness Sochnut officials discourage people to make Aliyah. We hope that an inquest will be open on that affair which will put a stop to that shame.

How do you envisage the Jewish (or Italian) Diaspora in the next years?

If  the peculiarity of Italian Judaism, and in particular of the Roman one, is that it has been a continuous presence from over 2200 years, I think that today we are going through an historical phase by which many families are emigrating from Italy particularly to Israel.  For many Jewish Community presidents this would have caused alarm. On the contrary I think that this is our biggest success.  Making Israel grow thanks to Aliyot is the only guarantee of survival for the Jewish people. It suffices to consider how Italian Judaism shrunk to practically insignificant numbers of which 85% of Jews live in Rome and Milan and the rest in other 19 Communities where only two, Florence and Turin hardly reach the 1000 units and the others have a number of Jews between 20 and 400. A demographic disaster, generated by the Shoah and above all by the inexorable assimilation. To this we have to add the ever overbearing weight of Islamic immigration that, besides being in some cases a source of empathy with and recruitment of terrorist Islamic fundamentalists, especially with their right to vote, will be the beginning of the end of the respect that today Italian Jews enjoy in the Country and in many cases, of the citizenry sympathy towards Israel.

What is the state of relations between Italy and Israel today?

Very good. They were never as good as today and this was demonstrated first by Foreign Secretary Frattini last September at the United Nations where he mediated to prevent a vote of recognition of the State of Palestine, and then by the new Minister Terzi whose first words were spent to highlight the Iranian nuclear danger and in favor of hardening United Nations sanctions.  A sympathy that we find, in all truth, also in good part of the political spectrum which represented the opposition to Berlusconi’s government.

What is for you Judaism? to be a Jew?

Judaism is Torah and Mitzvot, without which the essence itself of Judaism is lost. It is however also true that not all Jews observe the Mitzvot and for this reason what keep us united is not only our common past history but is what unites us today and will keep us united in the future. And this present and future for me is Israel.
To conclude: A wish for the State of Israel from the President of the most ancient Jewish Community of the Diaspora

A wish NOT commonly expected.  That Israel does return to speak with one voice only.  It is frustrating for us Jews of the Golà trying to show the genuine face of Israel, her justice and humanity, her ethics.  Above all, her right to defend herself from terrorism and the right to live also in the settlements side by side with Arab neighbors without having to sleep with the nightmare that massacred the Fogel family at Itamar. But then we end up being contradicted by the usual idealistic Israeli pacifists who, certainly in good faith and using the language of the legally constituted state and democracy, become accomplices of and the best living tribute to our enemies.  In particular they turn into a testimony for the friends of our enemies that then use these “good Jews” against the “evil Jews” who are in essence Israel’s great majority.

In conclusion, since we talk to a Likud newsletter, we cannot forget one of the heroes of Israel and one of her Founding Fathers, Menachem Begin z.l.. He who was the first Israeli government Minister to welcome an Arab leader, Sadat, in Yerushalaim, and then conclude in a short time the first Peace Treaty with a nation that only a short time before was an enemy.  Israel still needs such heroes and fighters who would defend her even with their teeth if she was attacked but that could lead all of us on the road to Peace when it would be guaranteed to every Jew in Israel and outside Israel not only to live this Peace, but simply to live!!!

Translated by Enzo Nahum

With so much effort spent on welcoming Jews from abroad, the ministry runs the risk of losing sight of another pressing concern: the deflating number of our own citizens.

Despite Israel’s ever-growing economy, some of our citizens choose to leave Israel in search of a more prosperous future. While they more often than not retain their Israeli identities by living in areas populated by other sabras, these mini-Israel communities abroad can never really live up to the real thing.

In an effort to remind our Israeli emigrants of the unique qualities of their homeland, the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption launched a series of television and billboard ads. Though controversial in nature, the ads were meant to remind Israeli expatriates that no matter where they currently reside, there’s no place like home.

Some American Jews were offended by the ads. Admittedly, like any successful campaign, the commercials were intended to get people talking; however, they certainly were not meant to offend.

Israeli and American Jews have shared an extremely tight relationship that is not to be taken for granted. Legions of Zionist supporters abroad have ensured Israel’s continued survival, and their tireless support has helped many an Israeli sleep easier.

Having spent some time working in the United States as a shaliach, an emissary, for the Jewish Agency in Miami, I have come to know the unique challenges facing American Jewry. Living as an integrated part of American society while fighting the effects of assimilations is arguably the most difficult task with which Jewish communities outside of Israel must cope.

While North American Jews have grown accustomed to weathering these challenges and working hard to maintain their unique identities, many Israeli emigrants have never had to cope with these added social pressures.

Though I can readily see why some Jews living abroad would be uneasy with advertisements whose subtext may seem to suggest that it is more difficult to maintain a Jewish identity outside of the State of Israel, it is essential to note that the intention of this campaign was not to pass judgment on our American brothers and sisters.

Sensitivities aside, the fact is that each year thousands of well-trained, highly skilled Israeli professionals are leaving the country to find employment elsewhere. These expatriates represent an invaluable human resource for our country, and the job of the Israeli government is to do whatever possible to direct them back to their home.

While the ads caused a huge stir in Jewish communities, the initiative was far from an unprecedented approach. Countless nations have created government programs aimed at reversing the effects of brain drain.

Israel will always be a homeland of the Jewish people. That being said, not every domestic policy pioneered by Israel’s government is necessarily aimed at the Jewish Diaspora.

With Israeli and Jewish culture being so closely intertwined, the truth is that the Israeli national character, including the Hebrew language, civic holidays and remembering our fallen heroes, is by no means exclusive to residents. American Jews and Jews from all across the Diaspora are always encouraged to embrace Israeli customs and pass them on to their children.

However, there are certain trappings of Israeli culture that cannot be emulated in America, such as bustling streets freezing completely in time while pedestrians and drivers commemorate our war dead, or sufganiyot and latkes lining the windows of shops rather than gingerbread. These are the charms that our government hopes to portray to woo our talented expatriates back home.

To ensure that we do not find ourselves in this situation again, my committee has recommended to all the relevant agencies and organizations that a higher level of coordination be implemented. This means that Israeli ministries such as the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Absorption, the Ministry of Information and Diaspora Affairs and the Foreign Ministry must coordinate before setting out on such an ambitious campaign.

We as Israelis also must be much more sensitive to our brethren in the Jewish communities around the world. A higher level of consultation with them probably would have enabled us to avoid this whole situation.

Admittedly, for all the celebrated charms of the Israeli character, subtlety is not among our strongest attributes. This is something I am confident that American Jewry can appreciate and recognize the intention and reasoning behind this campaign. Israelis are a passionate and honest people who say what we feel, and believe in what we say. It is an aspect of our character that has allowed us to survive and thrive.

Through mutual respect and admiration I am sure that our two communities will move beyond this incident and continue to focus on the important issues that are truly important to us all.

(Danny Danon is the deputy speaker of the Knesset and chairman of its Committee for Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs. He also is the chairman of World Likud.)

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