Liberman: Israel should encourage mass aliya

Jerusalem, 2 September, 2018 (TPS) -- Israel should set a target of getting 3.5 million Jews to immigrate to Israel over the next decade, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said Sunday. “The major threat to the Jewish people in the Diaspora is assimilation which has reached as high as 60 percent,” Liberman said, adding that Israel should allocate resources to prevent “the disappearance of the Jewish people in the Diaspora.” He said it would take some $365 million per year to facilitate mass aliya over a decade. “Bringing in those numbers [of Jews] will upgrade Israel to another level with a prowess we never imagined,” Liberman said. “It would give enormous impetus to the economy, to science and of course strengthen us a regional power and perhaps beyond.”