President Shimon Peres
Photo: AP
Peres takes stand for foreign children
President: Deporting 400 kids who speak Hebrew, see themselves as Israeli is out of the question
President Shimon Peres expressed his objection Thursday to a government plan to deport 400 children of foreign workers from Israel.
On Wednesday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak announced that he is initiating another discussion at the cabinet Sunday on the deportation of foreign workers' children.
"Regarding the 400 children who were born in Israel, speak Hebrew, and feel Israeli, deporting them is out of the question. My opinion is unequivocal: These children must be allowed to remain in Israel," Peres told a conference at Kfar Maccabiah in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv.
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Barak, who was absent from the previous discussion due to a trip abroad, failed to leave a note expressing his opposition to the planned deportations.
"The decision to arrest and deport 400 children is outrageous," he said.
"The images of policemen raiding the homes of migrant workers and forcibly dragging out their children, the images of wardens holding families in prison facilities, and the images of Interior Ministry inspectors leading Hebrew-speaking children onto planes will cause all of us irreparable damage, both domestically and abroad."
In response to Barak's comments, Interior Minister Eli Yishai said, "It's a shame people are making cynical use of the foreign migrants' children in order to boost their ratings."
