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Last update - 07:40 04/09/2009
Not all Jews appreciate Israel's new anti-assimilation campaign
By Dana Weiler-Polak and Cnaan Liphshiz, Haaretz Correspondents
Tags: jewish agency, assimilation 

A day after mounting a scare-tactic campaign to prevent the assimilation of Diaspora Jews, the Prime Minister's Office and Jewish Agency received some 200 calls, most of them reporting names of Jews living abroad.

However, many callers also blasted the campaign - which describes assimilation as a "strategic national threat."

The campaign, which launched on Wednesday, urges Israelis to report the particulars of acquaintances living abroad so that these people, who are "in danger" of marrying non-Jews, can be persuaded to come to Israel.
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The 10-day Hebrew-language campaign has been mounted by MASA, a partnership between the Jewish Agency and the Israeli government that helps finance and market Israel programs for Diaspora Jews.

It features images of missing-person posters, with Jewish-sounding names written along the bottom. The message is that assimilated Jews are "lost" persons who must be brought home, to Israel.

Campaign organizers say that about half the world's Jews marry outside the faith, and are calling on Israelis and Jews to enlist to prevent the "strategic national threat" posed by assimilation.

About 100 of the callers reported unmarried Jews aged 18-30 living in France, the United States and New Zealand. Callers also left their acquaintances' Facebook and Twitter names as well as email addresses so that MASA people could contact them.

The campaign also evoked many angry phone calls, some calling the campaign a "farce."

"Are we also supposed to report acquaintances who don't intend to have children?" one caller asked.

"We wanted to raise a public debate, even if it arouses argument and emotions," MASA's CEO Ayelet Shiloh-Tamir said Thursday.

"More than 50 percent of young Jews assimilate," the TV commercial informs viewers through the voice of Ayala Hasson, a top reporter for Channel 1. "We are losing them," she adds, as soft, melancholy music is played on a flute in the background.

The 33-second clip features images of missing-person posters hanging in locales in Europe and North America. The posters, in English, French and Russian, are of young people with Jewish-sounding names.

The ad then asks anyone who "knows a young Jew living abroad" to call MASA. "Together, we will strengthen his or her bond to Israel, so that we don't lose them," the announcer concludes.

MASA officials say that Jewish youngsters who participate in the organization's projects strengthen their Jewish identity and affinity to Israel.
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  1.   let freedom pervail. persue whatever belief you want 10:39  |  g. lee 04/09/09
  2.   THE END OF THEJEWISH LINE 10:40  |  Reuven 04/09/09
  3.   racism 11:55  |  s 04/09/09
  4.   I agree w/the fear, but why not welcome converts instead? 12:01  |  TT 04/09/09
  5.   Dinosaur Thinking 18:31  |  Jonathan 04/09/09
  6.   In Hebrew? 19:41  |  W 04/09/09
  7.   intolerance 20:35  |  irritated jew 04/09/09
  8.   I`m a "lost" Jew and I don`t wanna be found 21:26  |  Miki 04/09/09
  9.   Israel;s beccoming not safe haven, but burden for the Jewis 21:29  |  Miki 04/09/09
  10.   Jews love traif 21:37  |  Chaim Ben Kahan 04/09/09
  11.   Calling and reporting names of Jews- doesn`t this sound familiar? 03:09  |  Noah 05/09/09
  12.   Marrying a non-Jew 05:21  |  Michael 05/09/09
  13.   not by halacha - by law of return 08:19  |  Shoshannna 05/09/09
  14.   assimilation 15:55  |  nason goldstein 05/09/09
  15.   I like my life and don`t like people telling me personal life 18:29  |  Danny 05/09/09
  16.   Assimilation 18:33  |  Trinidad 05/09/09
  17.   I do not live abroad, I live in my country! 19:41  |  mickael 05/09/09
  18.   Anti-Assimilation campaign 20:08  |  Jesse 05/09/09
  19.   1 in 4 Jews have genetic defects. A broad gene pool is healthier. 21:07  |  Lou Medel 05/09/09
  20.   #10, Chaim Ben Kahan likes traif. And dislikes to be disliked. 21:30  |  zmogus 05/09/09
  21.   12;Your children are Gentiles. Only Jewish women can raise Jews. 01:33  |  anti-intermarriage 06/09/09
  22.   Nasty Mischief 04:28  |  Ahem! 06/09/09
  23.   TO anti-intermarriage #19 11:23  |  Steve Beikirch 06/09/09
  24.   LOL "temp" jews complaining 15:26  |  rich 06/09/09
  25.   who is a Jew 09:18  |  arieh zimmerman 07/09/09
  26.   Chaim Ben Kahan a question 16:11  |  Chaval 07/09/09
  27.   To #11 03:54  |  Greg 08/09/09
  28.   Found Jews? 14:25  |  ARTH 08/09/09
  29.   anti-assimilation 22:32  |  zoe 08/09/09
  30.   A Desperate Attempt 23:10  |  Yaakov Sullivan 08/09/09
  31.   I don`t quite get this 01:11  |  Murray 09/09/09
  32.   Racism, pure and simple 09:47  |  Shiska 09/09/09
  33.   then make israeli and jewish culture attractive 15:25  |  gil 09/09/09
  34.   we are pushed 17:19  |  ian 09/09/09
  35.   re 2 I agree- it was a good idea 18:23  |  Golem 09/09/09
  36.   to #4 TT 22:30  |  guy 09/09/09
  37.   This is an Aliya campaign 17:09  |  Blima Abramson 10/09/09
  38.   To#4 -A convert is a Jew. 17:17  |  Blima Abramson 10/09/09
  39.   Shiksa; It`s not racism to fight for the survival of the Jewish p 04:06  |  anti-intermarraige 11/09/09
  40.   Gers, proselytising and reality 01:09  |  Ezra Shneur Zalman 12/09/09
  41.   The ad 16:30  |  RW 13/09/09
  42.   ads 16:16  |  marilyn hayes-rega 14/09/09
  43.   ant-assimilation campaign by Israel Government 17:46  |  valentina kaplan hey 14/09/09
  44.   Been There, Done That 17:58  |  "Ben Asher" 14/09/09
  45.   Jewish bigotry 18:47  |  Fed up Jewish woman 14/09/09
  46.   ghetto mentality 19:52  |  Yom Tov 14/09/09
  47.   A Poorly Conceived Approach, But a Real Issue for Jewish Survival 21:38  |  Alan-NYC 14/09/09
  48.   Is Israel a Jewish State, after all? 04:52  |  Prophet Isaiah 17/09/09
  49.   This bigotry is making us second guess Aliya 23:02  |  Dan 19/09/09
  50.   Convert 04:54  |  To Poster #4 21/09/09
  51.   Arieh Zimmerman 15:55  |  Maree 04/11/09
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