International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, Dec. 31, 2002

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who has been encouraging Jews from around the world to move to Israel, recommended that the process of converting to Judaism should be shortened, countering statements by a religious minister who said secular Jews need not come to Israel.

"It should be possible for anyone who wants to become a Jew to do so," Sharon said in response to Health Minister Nissim Dahan's remarks.

Dahan said Diaspora Jews should not immigrate to Israel if they would be unable to adopt a religious lifestyle once they got here. Dahan's comments, before a convention of World Orthodox Jewry in Jerusalem, drew fire from the convention delegates, who were discussing the Jewish nature of Israel.

He said he fears the erosion of the state's Jewish identity, adding that the presence of Jews in the Diaspora was a result of God's benevolence.

"We prefer a Jew overseas to a gentile in Israel," Dahan said.

Rabbis and Jewish leaders denounced Dahan's statement, saying that Jews should be encouraged to immigrate to Israel without any connection to the political or religious situation in the country.

"Dahan's statements are a complete distortion of Judaism," Zevulun Orlev said. "The mitzva of immigrating to Israel is unconditional, and (Dahan's statements) are a heresy against Zionism."

However, Shas Chairman and Interior Minister Eli Yishai said that Diaspora Jews who are considering immigration must be told that there is a danger that Israel will become a secular country with a secular government.

"It is better to stay Jewish anywhere else, and not to come to Israel to assimilate," Yishai said. "A secular state will bring … hundreds of thousands of goyim (gentiles), who will build hundreds of churches and will open more stores that sell pork. In every city we will see Christmas trees."

Yishai added that the Law of Return must be changed to ban gentiles from immigrating.