The State of Israel is opening its gates to non-Jewish
children through a regulation Interior Minister Avraham Poraz
is formulating. Recently Poraz decided to allow children
officially defined as non-Jewish to immigrate if one of their
parents already residing in Israel married a Jewish spouse.
Previously non-Jewish children were not even permitted to
visit their parents in Israel because of Interior Ministry
concerns they would stay in Israel, compromising the
country's Jewish character. According to the Ministry's
directive, which took effect over a decade ago at the
beginning of the large wave of immigration from the former
Soviet Union, any Jew who immigrated to Israel through
marriage to a Jew could not bring his children from previous
marriages into the country even for visits. Due to strict
enforcement of the directive, parents were forced to fly to
their respective countries of origin to meet with their
children.
Minister Poraz' revolutionary proposal effectively bypasses
the citizenship law, which permits non-Jewish spouses to
secure legal status in Israel through familial ties to a Jew.
According to predictions if Poraz' proposal goes into effect
hundreds of children waiting abroad would receive resident
status.
Previously Poraz submitted a similar proposal to the
Interministerial Committee for Population Administration, but
the proposal was rejected. Now he is setting forth the same
proposition as a regulation that would obligate Interior
Ministry officials. This sends a clear message to Ministry
workers: "Those who submit requests to me will be allowed to
bring their children to Israel immediately and I will grant
them residency, even if the officials say no. It must be kept
in mind that these officials have lived under religious and
chareidi ministers for decades."
Since 1989 approximately one million immigrants have come
from the former Soviet Union, of which some 300,000 said
openly that they are not Jewish. According to reliable
estimates the true amount of non-Jews could be double this
amount.
The new regulation joins a number of policy changes Poraz
introduced into the Interior Ministry, including granting
legal status to the children of illegal foreign workers and
permanent resident status to the parents of a soldier who
completes at least one year of compulsory military service,
even if he is not Jewish.
In response to Minister Poraz' new initiative MK Rabbi Moshe
Gafni told Yated Ne'eman, "Whoever is in need of
further proof that Shinui [representatives] are unfit to rule
and lead has now received another reminder of this. Poraz and
his party cohorts provide additional proof week by week of
why they cannot remain in a position of influence in the
country. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would do well to have
them out of the government. Poraz and his colleagues attach
no value to any issue in Judaism and their only goal is to
transform the State of Israel into a state `like all of the
nations' without leaving it with any vestige or spark of
Judaism."
Shas Chairman Eli Yishai also attacked the decision by the
Interior Minister, referring to him as "Assimilation Minister
Poraz": "The Interior Minister is acting counter to the
citizenship law and he is a criminal [out to destroy] Jewish
identity."
Yishai said he would send a letter to Attorney General Mani
Mazuz. "It will go down as inhumane in the history of the
Jewish people to leave Poraz in office for even another
moment," said Yishai. "Shas will do all it can to halt the
repeated attempts to implement the disengagement of Poraz
from our roots. Someone like Poraz who renounces his past has
no future."
Yishai, who formerly served as Interior Minister, said,
"Sweeping decisions such as these cause damage that will take
decades to repair."
In response Interior Minister Avraham Poraz said, "Yishai's
remarks show how dangerous it would be for Israel if Shas
returns to power because then, rather than being an open,
humanistic state, this will be a dark state where the Jews
are the Chosen People and others have no place . . . Yishai's
verbal attacks have long since failed to impress me. He has
already called me Antiochus and Haman the Wicked. On almost
every occasion he compares me to one of the enemies [of the
Jewish people]."
Welfare Minister Zevulun Orlev also attacked Poraz' decision
to allow non-Jewish children from the former Soviet Union to
immigrate to Israel and receive residency, saying he objects
to any changes in the Right of Return. "Israel is a Jewish
state and not a state of all the citizens of the world and
this is a threat against its character as a Jewish state."
