In recent years the state has been trying to make the entry into Israel and naturalization of non-Jews more difficult. Six months ago, the justices of the Supreme Court criticized the amendment to the citizenship law barring any family unification involving Arab Israelis and Palestinians. The petition against the law was denied, but the justices argued that the right of citizens to be in Israel with the partner they choose should not be harmed, and that it is necessary to legislate a new and more flexible citizenship law. The Justice Ministry promised to do precisely that.

It turns out that the hope for a more humane law was exaggerated. Now, the Knesset is seeking to extend the temporary citizenship law by another two years, and it will also vote in a second and third reading on the law on illegal aliens, which will prevent the unification of families for those who resided in Israel illegally for as little as a month. In theory, this law is meant to counter illegal immigration; in practice it is another measure for blocking citizenship to those who are not Jews, even if they have family ties with an Israeli.

Arab citizens have to marry among themselves, or emigrate from Israel. Any possibility of marrying an Arab from a different state or the territories will be blocked by the citizenship law or the law on illegal aliens. However, the law on illegal aliens will also hurt families of Jewish new immigrants who want to bring with them non-Jewish family members. These include non-Jewish children from previous marriages, non-Jewish elderly parents of new immigrants and also foreign workers who fell in love with Israelis and would like to live with them in Israel. The strict immigration policy that Israel is adopting with these laws completely ignores the breadth of possibilities stemming from ties of love and human relationships. Henceforth, the government recommends, through legislation, it is advisable to fall in love only with Jews, or to give up living in Israel.

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The citizenship law was originally created to open the door to non-Jews to also live in Israel. While the Law of Return is the law that instituted the Jewish state and provides for automatic naturalization for any Jew, the citizenship law is meant to solve different human problems. But since the demographic panic began, and the rumor was spread that the Palestinians are trying to manifest the right of return through marriage with Arab Israelis, and hundreds of thousands of non-Jewish new immigrants from Russia arrived, and the number of foreign worker rose, a coalition of those fearful for the future demography of Israel emerged, which led to superfluous legislative initiatives.

No doubt, Israel, too, like all Western states, must formulate a reasonable immigration policy. The difference between such a policy and the hunting down of parents, children and partners of Israelis, most of them living in Israel illegally because of the circumstances, is enormous. A country of immigrants like Israel cannot ignore the slew of human problems that emerge, and family members should not be asked to separate because some of them do not meet the entry requirements. Preventing the unification of families of Arab Israelis with their partners is discrimination of the worst kind. It has nothing to do with immigration, but with the right of every citizen to live in his/her country with his/her partner and children.