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Last update - 21:42 21/10/2009
Interior Minister skips immigration debate attended by foreign workers' children
By Dana Weiler-Polak, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Human Trafficking 

Minister of Internal Affairs Eli Yishai on Wednesday canceled his attendance at a Knesset hearing on Israel's immigration policies, in light of the fact that children of foreign workers, due to be deported, were to be present.

"I didn't attend because of the attempt to turn the session into a theater of the absurd and to incite provocation," Yishai said.

Yishai's absence from the conference ignited strong reactions by several of the attending members of Knesset.
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Left wing MK Nitzan Horowitz said that Yishai's decision was ridiculous and pitiful.

"The Minister of Internal Affairs can't even look these children in the eye," he added.

MK Haim Oron, head of the leftist party Meretz, also responded by saying that "it is unfounded that Yishai's personal standards become public standards."

During the conference, a bill was submitted by MK's Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz), Dov Khenin (Hadash) and Danny Danon (Likud) that will be brought to discussion in the Knesset in November.

The bill proposes protecting children of illegal immigrants and foreign workers from arrest or incarceration.

Conference chairman MK Orit Zuaretz (Kadima) started crying during the conference and said that Israel today is a country that deals in human trafficking.

"Immigrant workers are exploited and live in inhumane conditions in Israel, and this cannot continue to happen," Zuartez concluded.

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