86% of Australian Jewry has visited Israel
The President of the Australian arm of the Jewish National Fund Grahame Leonard has addressed the KKL-JNF World Leadership Conference in Israel…reporting that 86% of Australian Jewry has visited Israel.
Grahame Leonard
KKL-JNF Australia hopes to contribute towards improving the quality of life in Israel and is therefore involved in many environmental, educational and water projects.
“These activities are important not only for the present generation but mainly for future generations,” said Leonard, Federal President.
The Jewish community in Australia numbers around 135,000, and according to Leonard 86% have visited Israel. 12,000 of them have made aliya. The connection between Israel and Australia is based not only on the Jewish community but also on the friendship between the nations and their governments, which encompasses the entire political spectrum of Australia. “Israel and Australia have common goals related to water issues,” said Leonard, “since Australia is the most arid continent. Israel is very advanced in agricultural aspects, while there is a wealth of knowledge in Australia about saving urban water. The biofilter project is a wonderful example of the winning combination between the two countries, utilising the advantages of each of them.”
How on earth did they get this figure? Seems terribly inflated. The fact that numbers around Australia’s Jewish population are incredibly varied (between census figures and community figures) attests to the problem. Maybe he meant to say 86% of JNF’s Australian members and got carried away.