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Factor: Lesson engraved in our flesh
Photo: Yaron Brener
Holocaust survivors say foreign children's deportation painful reminder
'You have moral obligation, especially due to what happened to Jewish people,' survivors tell PM
A number of Holocaust survivors' organizations have announced their support for the foreign workers' children, who are in danger of being deported in less than three weeks.
On Wednesday the organizations appealed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an attempt to prevent the deportation. "We the Holocaust survivors have special difficulty ignoring the choked feeling and the shame," they said in a statement.
Others Protest
Government's continued debate regarding possibility of deporting Israeli-born children of illegal foreign workers sparks yet another demonstration as 100 people gather in Tel Aviv to protest
Netanyahu has delayed the decision on the deportation of the illegal workers' children until November 1.
Zeev Factor, current head of the Center of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors, appealed to the prime minister in a statement.
"You have a moral obligation, especially in light of what happened to the Jewish people. These are children who only know this country and speak only our language, and a child must not be deported from the land in which he was born solely due to his origins – this is a lesson engraved in our flesh," he said.
He said the children must not pay for the mistakes of the state. "All of the children living in our nation deserve citizenship. Their situation reveals the ugly face of slavery in our time," Factor said.
"We must maintain Israel's dignity and remove from the agenda this shameful chapter as though it never existed."
Meanwhile MK Eitan Cabel (Labor) called on President Shimon Peres to intervene against the possible deportation.
"I call on you to be the moral compass against the deportation of children from their familiar homes in Israel to foreign countries they have never visited," he said.
Cabel asked Peres to push "for the halting of this shameful initiative that will morally stain the state of Israel".
