BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Scores of Argentinian Jews have decided that they would rather run the risk of assassination by suicide-bombers in Israel than being crushed in Argentina’s economic meltdown.

“I’m going to Israel looking for safety,” said 33 year-old Silvana Juacin before leaving Buenos Aires at the end of February to start a new life with her family in the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Bialik, a few kilometres west of the city port of Haifa. “I know this may sound odd, but I do believe things will be better there for us.”

Silvana and her husband, Moises, did not find the decision easy to make. They are a middle-class Buenos Aires couple with two children — Micaela, 14, and Uriel, three — and a third on the way. But as Moises pointed out, “At least there you know who’s on your side and who your enemies are. And someone stands by you. Here, the government doesn’t care about the citizens and many times the policemen who supposedly should protect you are the same people who moonlight as thieves.”

Moving to a place that most people would regard as a war zone seems to have worked well. Last week, after talking to Silvana on the phone, her father, Raul Levin, said, “My daughter is happy. The city is the closest to paradise. It’s clean, with plants and flowers on the sidewalks. The day after their arrival they had a bank account, health coverage, credit card and in a few days they’ll get a phone line and a cellular.”

Eager to increase its Jewish population, the Israeli government grants Argentine Jews free air tickets, free health coverage, free education for the children, free Hebrew lessons for the parents, free housing and a $12,500 loan to help them through the expenses of the first six months. Cheap mortgages are also available to buy a house.

In Buenos Aires, the small retail business owned by Silvana and Moises faced continuing financial difficulties and possibly bankruptcy because of the economic crisis. The package on offer in Israel was too tempting to reject.

They are not alone, confirms Gail Hyman, vice-president of the New York-based United Jewish Communities (UJC), which represents 189 Jewish federations across North America. They contribute $2 billion a year to help Jewish people worldwide and are keeping a close watch on the plight of the Argentine community.

“Last year, 1,500 Argentine Jews went to Israel, a 30 per cent increase over the previous year,” says Hyman. “This year, 600 arrived in Israel between January and February and a similar number will go during March and April. We think up to 6,000 could make the trip during this year.”

Amir Shaviv, assistant executive vice-president of the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), an American organisation established in 1914 to channel funds and aid to Jews in Europe and Palestine, emphasises that aliyah (immigration) is not a magic bullet: “Not all Argentine Jews can go to Israel and most of them want to stay in the country,” he points out.

Assistance to those in need, he adds, is the most important task. Of Argentina’s Jewish community of 220,000 (Latin America’s largest), 21,000 are on welfare. “Our first priority is to feed people with no money, giving them food vouchers. Second priority is medicines, and, finally, cash subsidies to pay the rent or mortgages for those who are facing the risk of being evicted from their homes.”

Last year, the JDC spent $1 million on support for needy Jews in Argentina. This year, it has budgeted $8.7 million.

Working with local organisations and synagogues, it has also established 40 soup kitchens, one of which, at the Buenos Aires Beit El synagogue, gives food to 600 people a day.

This example highlights the very nature of the Argentine crisis, says Shaviv.

People who used to drive to services at the synagogue in their new cars now have to look for the US40 cents for the bus fare to go there to eat. Many show up in tailor-made suits, which hark back to better days. In Argentina, better days may refer to a time only six months ago.

The Jews are just part of a wider problem. According to government figures, 680,000 Argentinians became what it calls “new poor” in the last year and a third of the population live below the poverty line. The official definition of poor is the inability to afford a basic basket of goods and services worth $60 a month.

The country’s Jewish community has been dealt several heavy blows in recent years. In 1992, a car bomb destroyed the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 27. Two years later, a Jewish community centre was levelled in a second terrorist attack, in which 87 people died. Later, two banks owned by leaders of the Jewish community went bankrupt and a lot of people lost their money. Then came the economic crisis.

Hyman, who visited Argentina last month, says that “we were feeling the situation was bad. We knew that from the press and personal testimonies, but when confronted with the reality on the ground, when you talk with real people, you learn that no newspaper account could give you the real picture. You see such a wonderful city as Buenos Aires is, feel the richness of the Jewish tradition and culture, and at the same time are confronted with this grim reality. You are not prepared for this.”

Not every Argentine Jew who has emigrated to Israel sees such a rosy picture as Silvana. In an article posted on the United Jewish Community web page, Nestor Edelstein, a 43-year-old Argentine anaesthesiologist now living in Israel, says that “people need to know that it isn’t a Garden of Eden here. They need to know what real life is like here”.

But a lot of Jews still want to escape Argentina’s economic hardship. Others move because family and friends have already done so. Says Raul Levin, 65 year-old father of Silvana, who is currently arranging his trip to Israel with his wife, “In six months I’ve seen my family broken. My two daughters and their families went to Israel. We have nothing left here. We are going where our kids are.”

— GEMINI NEWS

About the Author: JORGE SAN PEDRO is an Argentine freelance print and television journalist who was formerly with the Buenos Aires Herald.

Here, the government

doesn’t care

about the citizens and many times the policemen who supposedly should protect you are

the same people who moonlight

as thieves