Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told a gathering of Jewish Agency officials on Sunday that he believes the time has come to stop expending efforts to bring Jews to the Jewish state.
Said Olmert at the annual meeting of the Jewish Agency's Board of Governors: "We must understand that it is possible that the period of massive immigration to Israel is nearing an end."
According to Israel National News, Olmert insisted that the Israeli government and the Jewish Agency should instead spend their time and money on promoting greater Jewish education and self-identity in the Diaspora.
The vast majority of Diaspora Jews today live in the United States, where a high quality of life makes convincing most American Jews to make the move to Israel a difficult sale.