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Photo: Joe Kot
Thai immigrant workers
Photo: Joe Kot

Israel is our home

Janelle, 12, sings 'Hatikvah' at her school ceremonies and loves hummus. Edmerson, 8, excels at Torah lessons and dreams of enlisting to the IDF. Both were born in Israel, but Interior Ministry wants to deport them and another 370 Israeli-born children

They were born in Israel, speak Hebrew, attend Israeli schools and want to enlist in the IDF. But the appeals of 370 children of immigrant workers to be granted permanent citizenship were denied by the Ministry of Interior. Instead they stand the chance of being banished from the only country they have ever known.

 

Recently the Ministry of Interior ran a campaign granting citizenship to the children of foreign workers. To be eligible, the ministry stated, they had to be under the age of 18, and must have arrived in Israel before the age of 14. They need to have resided in Israel for at least five years and their parents must be in the country legally. The ministry expected 12 000 families to storm the offices asking for permanent citizenship, but only 800 families applied. Almost half of the applications were denied.

 

Janelle and Edmerson Paenchu, ages 12 and 8, were among the children denied citizenship. The reason for their denial: suspicion of fraud due to the different spelling of their father’s name in his legal work documents and his passport.

 

15 years in Israel

“We live in Herzlia and our children were born in Israel”, says their mother Marietta in despair. Marietta and her husband are from the Philippines. “They have grown up as Israelis. Janelle wants to celebrate her bat-mitzvah like her friends at school. We have lived here for 15 years. The children only speak Hebrew. What will they do in the Philippines? Why tear them from their friends and from their country? We are losing sleep worrying”.

 

Even the food Janelle prefers is Israeli. “Her favorite food is Yemenite jachnun," says her mother. “When friends come over or when she has a pajama party, I make it for everyone”.

 

The Principal, staff and pupils of the Shazar school in Herzlia which the two children attend have written countless letters to the Minister of Interior Ronni Bar-On, but have not received even one reply. “Please help this good family bring up their children in Israel as they have done up till now. This is the only society that they know and feel secure within”, wrote school principal Orly Perlman.

 

Even their friends cried

“I have never been to the Philippines and don’t know a soul there”, said Janelle. “If we are deported, I will have to start again from first grade. I can’t cope with that. I want to be an Israeli citizen, this is my country”.

 

Janelle is a member of the school band and sings “Hatikvah” at formal ceremonies. Her brother, Edmerson, is top of his third-grade class in Torah lessons.

 

“My friends are willing to demonstrate in front of the Ministry of Interior, and they cried when they heard I am to be deported”, wrote Janelle in a letter. “All my friends are here, and my class is already planning the end of year party and graduation to middle school. I want to stay in Israel so that I may celebrate my bat-mitzvah with my friends and join the army when I grow up”.

 

MK to help

Janelle and Edmerson’s story reached MK Ran Cohen (Meretz) and he wrote an urgent letter to Bar-On asking to put an end to the family’s suffering and allow them to remain in Israel.

 

“There is such a small number of people asking for permanent residency in Israel, why make them suffer so?” said MK Cohen angrily. “We’re not talking about thousands of people, just few hundred children who have no other place in the world”.

 

The Ministry of Interior’s response: Subsequent to the government’s decision to award citizenship to children of foreign workers, 823 applications including 2,400 people were made. 370 applications were denied, and 270 appeals have been submitted. At the end of the campaign, the government will hear the appeals.

 

Following the hearing, the Ministry of Interior and the Immigration Police will proceed to evict hundreds of children and their families from the country.

 


פרסום ראשון: 06.02.07, 15:05
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