Children as hostages
It is impossible to accept the government's obsequiousness in the face of pressure from Shas.
Haaretz Editorial Tags: migrant workers Jewish World Shas Israel newsThe ad hoc ministerial committee on deporting foreign workers, which is chaired by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, decided on Monday to once again postpone the deportation of some 1,200 children of foreign workers - which was originally scheduled to take place in another two weeks - and allow them to finish out the current school year. But when the school year ends, Israel intends to deport them back to their parents' countries of origin.
This is a cruel decision. It means holding the sword of deportation for months over the heads of hundreds of children who were born in Israel, and for whom Hebrew is often their only language and Israel their only country. In effect, the panel decided to "give" them another year - to hold them here as hostages - and then, in the end, to send them shamefacedly away. Interior Minister Eli Yishai, who has emerged as the most extreme nationalist and xenophobe in the cabinet, was quick to boast and threaten that the children "have bought time, not [legal] status. If the prime minister wants to give them status, let him take the Immigration Authority away from the Interior Ministry."
It is impossible to accept the government's obsequiousness in the face of pressure from Shas. And it is assuredly impossible to agree that these children's fate should be determined by a party that advocates a closed-off, nationalist Israel. Admittedly, the Prime Minister's Office did say that the decision is not final, and there will be further discussions of the children's fate in the coming days. But experience teaches that the prime minister is liable to give in to his ultra-Orthodox partner on this issue - a deeply important matter of ethics and principle - just as he has on other issues.
Israel could easily absorb another 1,200 Israeli children of foreign origin. It will have much greater trouble absorbing another immoral, inhumane decision such as the decision to deport them at the end of the school year. Cabinet ministers ought to decide in favor of allowing these children to remain permanently in Israel, either as citizens or as permanent residents, in the context of a one-time amnesty deal. They will only add to Israel's fascinating cultural and social mosaic. And deporting them to countries with which they have almost no connection is nothing less than iniquitous.
A country that was founded by the children of refugees and migrants is obligated to show an extra degree of sensitivity - especially when it comes to children. The prime minister must immediately put a stop to the abuse of these children and ensure that they can remain in this country permanently and unconditionally.
Why Facebook Connect?
Comment on Haaretz.com articles with your Facebook login, and share your thoughts on your own wall.
- Latest
- Most Viewed
- Most Rated
- Open all
The illegal workers who are now in Israel should be given legal permits to stay here for three more years. Their visas could be issued on the condition they deposit some of their wages in a bank. They would be paid a monthly salary via a "Payment Card" and the bank`s stamp would automatically extend their visas. An employee who leaves the country at the end of his legal employment would get the deposited money while the deposits of whoever fails to leave could be confiscated subject to a judicial order. This way most of the workers will willingly leave the country without any need for detentions and deportations. The writer was a Interior Minister under Ariel Sharon from 2003 to 2004
Here inh the UK we have about 500,000 failed asylum seekers whom the courts ruled must leave the UK, but who instead have disappeared. When they are found they escorted on to planes to return home. Israeli courts should be examing each case of children born in Israel to overseas workers and decide what their status shouod be. Their parents have the obvious options of also returning home.
This really depends onh the terms and conditions on which their parents entered Israel. If they had a fixed term contract to work , they knew they and their families were not in Israel permanently. This is an issue for the courts, not for Shas. There was a time when Brits worked around the world and left their children in English boarding schools. Americans abroad often have American schools overseas and here in London there are French and Greek schools for their communities. Working abroad doesn't mean you have automatic citizenship.
The illegal workers who are now in Israel should be given legal permits to stay here for three more years. Their visas could be issued on the condition they deposit some of their wages in a bank. They would be paid a monthly salary via a "Payment Card" and the bank's stamp would automatically extend their visas. An employee who leaves the country at the end of his legal employment would get the deposited money while the deposits of whoever fails to leave could be confiscated subject to a judicial order. This way most of the workers will willingly leave the country without any need for detentions and deportations.
The illegal workers who are now in Israel should be given legal permits to stay here for three more years. Their visas could be issued on the condition they deposit some of their wages in a bank. They would be paid a monthly salary via a "Payment Card" and the bank's stamp would automatically extend their visas. An employee who leaves the country at the end of his legal employment would get the deposited money while the deposits of whoever fails to leave could be confiscated subject to a judicial order. This way most of the workers will willingly leave the country without any need for detentions and deportations. The writer was a Interior Minister under Ariel Sharon from 2003 to 2004
The illegal workers who are now in Israel should be given legal permits to stay here for three more years. Their visas could be issued on the condition they deposit some of their wages in a bank. They would be paid a monthly salary via a "Payment Card" and the bank's stamp would automatically extend their visas. An employee who leaves the country at the end of his legal employment would get the deposited money while the deposits of whoever fails to leave could be confiscated subject to a judicial order. This way most of the workers will willingly leave the country without any need for detentions and deportations. The writer was a Interior Minister under Ariel Sharon from 2003 to 2004
My observation as a Jew ,but also an American, is that your country is heading itself for destruction. Imagine, as fewer and fewer working people are within the country, and thus fewer, and fewer people, take more and more of the resources of the country through the dole, and special schools. Imagine as your religious people take over more and more of the functions of the government -- sending yet more Israelis to live in the US, or the UK or Australia. Imagine, if the US stops its 3 billion a year boost. Imagine, if the many Americans who give to charities that are used in Israel withold their funds because...maybe they don't want to support a country on the dole. Imagine, that their will be more people taking government money than working -- and the public treasury is depleted. Maybe, it is time for people of different countries, ethos, and ethnicity to bring "new" blood to a system that is top heavy, and heading for a collapse.
Why were these people so silent when the children from Azza were transferred?