Israel's Security and Demographic Dilemma
Israel faced serious consequences, including economic losses, after Operation Al-Aqs o Typhoon on October 7 . The occupying state witnessed serious divisions in society and political parties. Moreover, the operation almost continued the reverse trend of Jewish migration from occupied Palestine at a time when the state's demography was a key issue for the Israeli government and Zionist strategists .
This trend was observed even before the Al -Aqsa flood , when Jews had already started migrating to the United States and Europe in search of greater economic stability and security. It is the most common option among thousands of young people facing Benjamin Netanyahu, who leads the most right-wing government in the history of the leprous state, a mix of ultra-Orthodox parties, religious movements and the far right.
Jewish immigration has always been important to Israel and the Zionist project. Factors that attract Jews to immigrate to occupied Palestine include security, economic prosperity, and pseudo-Zionist slogans that initially succeeded but ultimately failed. As Israel's economy shrinks, security has become a top concern for potential Jewish immigrants worldwide. This is why the idea of Judaizing Israel was popularized and enshrined in Israeli law in a serious attempt to attract more Jews to the "Jewish state" to make aliyah (repatriation, the idea of returning Jews to their "historical" homeland) . Both the Zionist movement and its leper state consider all Jews as a potential human resource and basis for the realization of their expansionist goals and the continuation of the entire project in the Arab region at the expense of the Palestinian people alone.
However, nearly 76 years after the establishment of Israel in occupied Palestine, only 41 percent of the world's Jews have been tempted to immigrate to an occupied state. Israel's leaders should try to use every opportunity to encourage more Jews to make this decision.
In cooperation and coordination with the Israeli Jewish Agency, it is planned to finance major campaigns to attract 200,000 Jews from Argentina, several thousand from Ethiopia, and about 80,000 from India and South Africa. Financial and labor incentives are offered to attract immigrants. In general, Jewish immigration from Europe and North America has reached an all-time low due to the absence of factors driving Jews from their homelands, as well as the damage to Israel's image and reputation due to the genocide of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. This is despite Israel's claims of "increasing interest in immigration" among Western Jews, but the actual number of arrivals is very small.
The Zionist strategy of displacing the Palestinian population and Judaizing the land has always depended on four aspects : attracting Jews from all over the world to immigrate to occupied Palestine; Judaization by occupation and other expropriation (forcible seizure) of Arab lands , followed by resettlement of foreign Jews ; create favorable political conditions for the expulsion of as many Palestinian Arabs as possible; building illegal settlements in violation of international law in order to change geography and demography in favor of the Zionist project. The focus was on creating a vibrant economy with high standards of living and growth that would attract more Jews.
The attempt to Judaize the land of Palestine required different ways of governing it. Land has been seized from the Palestinian population through massacres and forced displacement, using the pretext of development and security concerns to drive Palestinians off their land. Zionist institutions such as the Jewish National Fund ( JNF ) and the Jewish Agency, as well as the British Mandate occupation, played an important role in transferring ownership of Palestinian Arab lands to Jews even before the establishment of the apartheid state in 1948.
But it is true that when Israel declared its "independence" in that fateful year, Zionist Jews occupied only 9.1 percent of Palestine.
Today, Israel controls 100% of historic Palestine, despite the fact that the state and territories seized for occupied, alien Jews and settlements should occupy 78% of the land according to the famous Oslo Accords.
Operation Al-Aqsa Flood is considered one of the most successful guerrilla operations in the history of the Palestinian struggle since 1948, because it exposed Israel's vulnerability at all levels and destroyed the idea that the "most moral army in the world" was invincible. It encourages the Palestinian resistance to fight Israel in all its forms within the historic Palestinian territory.
Given the importance of security and economic stability in attracting and retaining Jewish immigrants to Israel, it is likely that we will see an increase in the number of Jews leaving the country. Net migration can be negative for the country. This also happened during the Second Intifada (Al-Aqsa) (September 2000 - February 2005), but official information tries to hide the truth.
This does not prevent the Zionists from continuing to displace the Palestinians by any means necessary and trying to attract more Jewish immigrants. This state remains an important strategy at a time when historic Palestine faces a demographic dilemma, marked by the growing number of Palestinians, their loyalty to their land and their rejection of displacement, and the decline of Jewish immigration, which means that Jews may become a minority in a Jewish state. This is the biggest fear of the Zionist project.
This article first appeared in Arabic on March 17, 2024 in Al-Quds Al-Arabi magazine.
