Ho Ho No

I accidentally ran into this strange advertisement from the Israeli Department of Immigration and Absorption.  It’s meant to encourage Israelis to return to Israel.  The tagline of the campaign is “They’ll always remain Israelis, but what about their children?”  This piece is titled “Before Chanukah turns into Christmas…it’s time to return to Israel.”  Even if you don’t speak Hebrew, you’ll get the gist:

Now I’m all in favor of encouraging Jews, whether Israelis or others, to consider making aliya.  I once aspired to live in Israel myself.  But this is ridiculous.

Obviously these are supposed to be Israelis living here.  The last I noticed we had a pretty vibrant Jewish community with several million Jews.  Part of my job involves working with our JCC’s Jewish preschool.  The Jewish kids, and most especially the ones who speak fluent Hebrew (!), certainly celebrate Chanukah.

I’m pretty sure the Department of Immigration and Absorption can come up with a way to entice Israelis to return without insulting the entire North American Jewish community.