Yet another grave breach threatens to bring tens of thousands
of non-Jews into Kerem Yisroel under the guise of
Israeli citizenship. Interior Minister Avrohom Poraz of
Shinui intends to table a proposed Cabinet decision before
the government that would allow him to grant citizenship to
tens of thousands of foreigners currently ineligible for
citizenship or residency. Poraz' proposal represents part of
his party's election platform and Poraz has threatened he
will consider resigning if the government does not approve
the plan. If the policy is approved by the Cabinet it has the
force of law.
The Prime Minister's Office has called the program a "far-
reaching plan," meaning that it goes beyond what is
necessary, and even Sharon's staff realizes some limits must
be placed to avoid inundating the State of Israel with
massive numbers of goyim who have only an incidental tie to
the country. The Attorney General has also said such
proposals to loosen the restrictions on immigration and allow
foreigners to receive citizenship easily, as if the State of
Israel were a club with open admission, could lead to
numerous problems.
According to a recent report in Yediot Achronot, Poraz
insists on raising his proposal for discussion in the
government despite the Prime Minister and Attorney General's
opposition. Part of the proposal addresses the issue of the
2,000 children of foreign workers residing in Israel. Poraz
also plans to grant permanent-resident status to juveniles
born to non-Jewish Israeli citizens or permanent residents;
citizenship to non-Jewish foreigners who married Israeli
citizens even if they subsequently separated; permanent-
resident status to both parents of non-Jewish soldiers;
temporary-resident or permanent-resident status to both
parents of an Israeli citizen who are not entitled to
citizenship under the Law of Return but have reached the age
of 60 and have no children living outside of Israel; and
citizenship to those who "make a special contribution to
Israeli society." The latter determination would be made by
the Interior Minister, according to his personal judgment.
Several months ago Minister Poraz wanted to issue new
regulations on these issues on his own legal authority but
the Attorney General objected, saying that Poraz can
establish regulations only after receiving government
approval.
"These changes demanded by present reality are intended to
solve genuine distress among many new immigrants and their
family members," said Poraz. "These changes are intended to
prevent distortions, to prevent harming children and forced
separation of family members based on humanitarian
principles." Poraz the humanitarian also wants to assist
elderly nursing-care patients whose caretakers are forced to
leave Israel after five years. "It is not humane to separate
a nursing-care patient or elderly person who feels his
foreign worker is like a family member," he says. "The new
status would allow them to live here and earn a living with
dignity."
On the issue of children of foreign workers staying illegally
Poraz claims, "It cannot be that a 17-year-old who was born
in Israel and lived here his entire life is suddenly sent
away to another country unfamiliar to him just because his
parents were born there. As far as I'm concerned let them
become Israeli citizens, serve in the army [and] pay taxes
just like every other citizen."
While Poraz says there are only about 2,000 such cases, the
Population Administration maintains that some 22,000 children
would receive Israeli citizenship based on this policy.
The Prime Minister's Office remains undecided on how to
handle this "hot potato," as they call it. Government
ministers will probably be pressured not to approve the
changes. The Mafdal has also announced it would not back the
regulation changes in the government and is threatening to
cause another coalition crisis if they are approved.
Degel HaTorah MK Rabbi Avrohom Ravitz said, "At the moment it
appears there is no further problem of personal status and
intermarriage among these foreign workers, but without a
doubt after being here for years the problem that they cannot
marry here in Israel will also apply to them and this will
become another source of pressure, and there will be more
intermarriage in Israel.
"Why are there immigration laws in the majority of countries
in the world, but here there cannot be immigration laws
restricting the number of immigrants? These immigrants are
certainly not `olim chadashim.' The State of Israel
may have to decide, in the most transparent manner, how many
goyim it is willing to bring into Israel and which
professions are preferable, and set quotas on how many
plumbers, how many doctors it can afford to bring in every
year. This is the practice in every modern, progressive state
and in this case nobody would pretend to say these immigrants
are Jews."
