Children even fair game in Israel’s election campaign
Right-wing politicians are either silent or support the expulsion of Filipino mothers and their Israel-born children.
The Supreme Court rejected Sept. 5 a petition against the expulsion of children of migrant workers, most from the Philippines, born in Israel. On the backdrop of statements made by several right-wing politicians on the issue, one might wonder whether right-wing voters popped open a bottle of Champagne to celebrate the ruling. The justices rejected the appellants’ argument that Israeli law does not allow a transitional, caretaker government to change official policy, but the government argued there had not been any such change.
On the one hand, the nationalists are never happier than when the leftist “knee-jerk liberals” are defeated. In this case, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Interior Minister Aryeh Deri can take credit for yet another victory in the battle against the “demographic threat” facing the Jewish state. On the other hand, the ruling robbed them of an excellent opportunity to attack the judiciary for getting in the government’s way and conducting “a terror attack against democracy,” as Netanyahu has taken to accusing in recent months.
What a field day they would have had with a ruling allowing the Hebrew-speaking children of non-Jewish mothers who overstayed their working visas to remain in Israel. They could have blamed the judges for ignoring the threat that a young Jewish man would one day fall into the clutches of a good-looking Filipino non-Jewish girl, eventually bringing assimilated children into the world. Let's not forget that Education Minister Rabbi Rafi Peretz declared Sept. 9 that intermarriage was “akin to a second Holocaust.”
Nonetheless, on the planned deportation of dozens of migrant workers’ children, Peretz displayed more compassion than his government colleagues did. In a letter to Deri, Peretz urged the interior minister to reconsider the decision, earning him a rebuke from his fellow party and government colleague, Bezalel Smotrich, who demanded an immediate deportation of foreign workers and their children to their homeland.
