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|  | MK Eli Yishai Photo: Gil Yohanan
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| | | | | Anti-deportation rally Photo: Yaron Brener
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Force them out of Israel
Yizhar Ayalon praises Eli Yishai's determination to expel young illegal aliens
Yizhar Ayalon
Since Eli Yishai made a name for himself in Israeli politics, this is the first time I find myself endorsing his position on a disputed issue. Even though this does not meet politically correct standards, both of us believe that illegal aliens, regardless of whether they are adults or students, should leave the country
immediately.
Three sectors are involved in this affair: The employers (the wealthy), Israeli employees (the poor), and the young illegal aliens. There is also a fourth group that is inactive at this time: Potential illegal aliens in the Sinai (about one million people according to the IDF) who are waiting to see what materializes. When looking at these groups, who gains and who loses in respect to keeping the illegal aliens and their families in the State of Israel?
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The employers, either manpower agencies or wealthy households, enjoy cheap and submissive labor that lacks any rights and can be fully exploited. An employee can be easily disposed of and replaced with a similar one if he’s sick, was hurt in a work accident, or merely asked for a small raise.
The losers are the poor, who do the dirty work: Cleaning staff, caretakers, maids etc. – these are jobs that do not require much education or extensive training. Here, lack of education or unfamiliarity with the local language do not constitute an obstacle for illegal aliens, who are willing to work for low salaries and without rights, thereby prompting the banishment of Israeli workers from such jobs; these local employees are disposed of, lose their sense of dignity, and instead of working make a living through welfare payments.
Young illegal aliens may gain in the short term, yet should they stay here later on they will encounter even worse discrimination than the one faced by Ethiopian immigrants. The sense of prejudice will prompt bitterness and hostility to the society that allowed them to stay here when they were younger. What will they do then?
In order to answer this question, it will suffice to recall the violent protests in Paris’ suburbs by the second generation of immigrants from North Africa and other Third World countries. We should also make note of the Islamic terror cells among the second and third generation of Bangladeshi and Pakistani immigrants in Britain.
Five years ago, former Ministers of the Interior Avraham Poraz and Zevulun Orlev allowed hundreds of young illegal aliens to stay in the country, as they studied in Israeli institutions. Today we are dealing with thousands. If they won’t be expelled, in five years we will have tens of thousands of them here in Israel’s education system, and the children of the wealthy will again rally in their support.
Some people make a distinction between illegal aliens who arrive by land, mostly from Africa (“refugees), and illegal aliens who came here by air, mostly from Asia (“foreign workers”). The latter entered Israel lawfully, yet stayed here illegal after their visas expired. This is yet another expression of the absence of consistent government policy.
In order to formulate such policy, the person at the top of the government pyramid needs to deal with the issue. However, since the days of late Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, no PM (with the possible exception of Menachem Begin)
dedicated any real attention to domestic affairs. Yet this doesn’t mean that citizens are absolved from fighting for the sake of the poor and for lowering the socioeconomic gaps.
There is a rule of thumb in psychology: The manner in which a person will act in the future depends first and foremost on the response to his past behavior or to the conduct of other people in similar situations. The way Israel treats the young illegal aliens this time around will constitute a precursor for the hundreds of thousands who will arrive by air and the million potential arrivals from the Sinai, and possibly millions of others who would follow.
Ministers who need to vote on the matter know that in order to get elected for their posts they need donations, which come from the rich. Hence, they will continue to talk about social gaps but vote as their voters expect them too. And again, the poor will lose.
The writer is a psychologist
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_a.jpg "Photo: Yaron Brener")
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