Immigration ads proves children of migrant workers, refugees are Israeli

Mya Guarnieri Jaradat By Mya Guarnieri Jaradat December 7, 2011 | Edit

According to the Immigration Absorption Ministry’s logic, all Israeli-born children–even those born to migrant workers and African refugees–must be Israeli

Immigration ads proves children of migrant workers, refugees are Israeli
Israeli-born children of migrant workers protest deportation. The sign reads, "Israel is my home. Here, I learned to read Hebrew. All my friends are here. I am an Israeli child." (photo: Mya Guarnieri)


In her “apology” to American Jewry over the recent ad campaign calling into question just how Jewish Jews can be in the United States, Immigration Absorption Minister Sofa Landver remarked, “I’m not really apologizing,” she said. “If anyone was harmed, they should look in the mirror and see their kids when they come back from public schools.”

What is interesting to me about this whole episode is the way that the Israeli government is quick to embrace assimilation when it suits their needs. If a Jewish Israeli has kids in America, his or her children are, according to the Israeli government, American. But, if a Filipino migrant worker has kids in Israel, her children are, according to the Israeli government, Filipino.

Huh?

You can’t have it both ways, Israel. If the American-born children of Israelis are American, then the Israeli-born children of migrant workers and African refugees are Israeli.

Those who support the deportation of migrant workers and their children from Israel might argue that the criteria set by the government means that those who are assimilated will not be deported. But many older kids who meet most of the criteria will fall through the cracks because of some small technicality–such as their parents’ entering on the “wrong” visa–face expulsion.

Mya Guarnieri Jaradat

Mya Guarnieri Jaradat is a writer and independent journalist based in South Florida after almost a decade in Israel/Palestine. Her book, The Unchosen: The Lives of Israel's New Others (Pluto Press) was shortlisted for the Jewish Quarterly Wingate Prize. Her reportage and commentary has been published in The Nation, The NY Times, Haaretz, Le Monde Diplomatique, Al Jazeera English, The Guardian and many other outlets. Her essays and fiction have appeared in Slate, Guernica, the Jewish Quarterly, Narrative, and The Kenyon Review. She is currently working on a memoir.