Foreign workers held in detention center
Photo: Shaul Golan
Foreign worker circumcises himself
Tells Immigration Police officers he wanted to ‘look more like Jewish men’; despite sacrifice, man still expected to be expelled from country
Painful story: An illegal foreign worker from the Ukraine circumcised himself with a knife so his physical appearance would be similar to that of Jewish men.
The man told the stunned Immigration Police officers who had apprehended him that he had carried out the act to “become more like the Jews.”
Nevertheless, the worker is facing expulsion from the country.
Early Tuesday Immigration Police officers raided the city of Bnei-Brak in an attempt to locate illegal foreign workers. At some point during the operation, the officers noticed a man strolling suspiciously on one of the city’s streets.
The man admitted he had arrived in the country as a tourist in 2000 but remained for work purposes after his visa had expired.
During his interrogation, the man told the officers he had circumcised himself with a knife about a week ago so he would look more like Jewish men.
He said that since the makeshift operation he has been taking antibiotic medication to ensure his recovery.
His physical condition is satisfactory.
Despite the immense pain the man had endured, the officers decided to arrest him anyway, and he was sent to a hearing conducted by Interior Ministry representatives to decide on his expulsion from the country.
In the interim, he will be held under arrest.
Earlier this week the government approved a revolutionary proposal that grants legal residence status to foreign workers’ children, thus paving the way for their becoming Israeli citizens within the next few years.
However, many other foreign workers and their children face expulsion.
