The wrong sort of immigrants.

Israel encourages immigration by Jews from Europe and the US, but those from Ethiopia are now less welcome

Tuesday August 19 2008

The Israeli government’s decision to halt immigration from Ethiopia prompted angry scenes in Jerusalem on Sunday, during a protest outside the prime minister’s house. Around 5,000 demonstrators voiced their condemnation of the authorities’ actions, with the chairman of the Organisation of Ethiopian Immigrants in Israel describing the situation as “a crime against Zionism, and the original Zionist idea of saving Jews from around the world”.

Israel is stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to absorbing new olim [immigrants], largely thanks to the small print in the country’s immigration policy.

• Mirroring Hitler’s assertion that anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent was to be considered untermenschen, the founding fathers of Israel declared that anyone with similar ancestry would therefore qualify for full citizenship of the newborn state.

Over the years, millions of Jews have taken up this offer, and today around 15% of Israel’s seven million population is made up of first-generation olim. Of that number, the vast majority come from the former Soviet Union, and the next largest group hail from Ethiopia, a country which has seen a mass migration of its native Jews to Israel dating back to the 1970s.

Racist’ marriage law upheld by Israel. [Citizenship Law]

‘Racist’ marriage law upheld by Israel

Monday, 15 May 2006

Israel’s High Court has narrowly upheld a law denying Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza married to Israeli citizens the right to live in the country with their spouses.

The judges voted by six to five not to cancel a four-year-old amendment to the Citizenship Law which outlaws “family unification” in Israel between Palestinians and Arab citizens of Israel.

It was passed as a one-year emergency measure in 2002 on the ground that it was needed to protect Israeli security. But the amendment, described yesterday by the Knesset member Ran Cohen, of the left-wing Meretz party, as “rooted in racism”, has been renewed every year since then.

Israel’s Chief Justice, Aharon Barak, sided with the minority on the bench, declaring:

“This violation of rights is directed against Arab citizens of Israel. As a result, therefore, the law is a violation of the right of Arab citizens in Israel to equality.”