Posted on 03/21/23
| News Source: i24
'The Zionist vision that inspired us – and all the immigrants who came before us – has been hijacked by extremists who threaten the fabric of this country'
More than 1,600 new immigrants to Israel wrote a letter to the Israeli government demanding a halt to legal reform, Israeli media reported.
In the letter, the immigrants asked to freeze the legislation which will be partially voted on by the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, early next month. The immigrant group, “Olim for Democracy,” also called on the Jewish Agency to take action on the issue. In addition, the letter reached the country's president, Isaac Herzog, who previously proposed a compromise plan.
The signatories to the letter come from a variety of backgrounds, including Orthodox, secular, Reform, Conservative and ultra-Orthodox Jews. The new immigrants who signed the letter arrived from the United States, Great Britain, several EU countries, South Africa, Australia, Russia, Ukraine and South America.
"We write to you as immigrants, devoted citizens of Israel by choice, who have actively chosen to leave everything familiar to us in our home countries to connect our destiny with this country ... We write this letter with heavy hearts. The Zionist vision that inspired us – and all the immigrants who came before us – has been hijacked by extremists who threaten the fabric of this country as a Jewish and democratic country,” the letter said.
The immigrant group also addressed the protesting public: "We add our voice to the alarm already voiced by legal experts, economists, tech executives, women's groups, military officers and our foreign allies."
The initiators of the letter said they did not receive a response from the government after sending it.