REDUCING IT TO RACIAL HYGIENE:

Israeli Government Tells Israelis Not to Marry American Jews: The Israeli government has launched an aggressive advertising campaign in the U.S. to discourage its expats from marrying American Jews--who some see as not really Jews at all. (Allison Yarrow, 12/01/11, Daily Beast)

Jewish children reared in America grow up hearing one thing on repeat. It's like a dull tuning fork in the ear, or an image that sticks in the brain. Marry a Jew. Over and over. As if each time is the first. The subtext is that each of us is responsible for all of us, and if we intermarry, we risk disappearing completely. American Jews preach marrying each other in Israel's name. The act does the Jewish homeland proud. A friend's parent once told me that marrying a Jew would be great, but marrying an Israeli would be even better.

Unfortunately for American Jews, and all those niggling parents, it turns out that Israel might not be on our team in this marriage game. A middling and now infamous Israeli government department has forged a peculiar U.S.-based advertising campaign. In a series of videos and billboards, they are discouraging Israeli expats from marrying American Jews and imploring them to move back to Israel.

Posted by oj at December 1, 2011 6:29 AM
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