Haredi press praises kids' deportation
Jewish magazines say 'Israel's Jewish character' endangered by foreign kids granted citizenship
Kobi Nahshoni • Ynet
Many members of the ultra-Orthodox community praised a government decision made Sunday on the deportation of hundreds of foreign workers' children.
United Torah Judaism's three magazines published articles on the issue Monday, some of them relating to new conversion laws and hatred of haredim.
An editorial carried by Hamevaser (The Herald) explained, "History teaches us that foreign elements that come to countries offering them work are destined to destroy the absorbing country, or to take it over."
The article added that "hundreds of thousands of Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, and Hindu foreign workers (together with hundreds of thousands of non-Jewish immigrants) place the state's Jewish character in danger".
Of those opposed to the deportation the paper says, "More than they have love for all people, they possess an abysmal hatred for Judaism. This animosity towards Jewish values is also apparent in all decisions made lately on the right of return, Jewish identity, and non-halachic conversion."
It adds that the government's move was not nearly satisfying, but that it is "a step in the right direction".
Yated Newspaper published an article by A. Yitzhaki, who said that "usually there is a parallel between these sympathetic people (i.e: those who opposed the deportation) and those who encourage the starvation of haredi children".
Referring to Education Minister Gideon Saar's vote against the decision he wrote, "Finally no haredi children are involved and there is no fear that they will vote for ultra-Orthodox parties and endanger the secular hegemony in Israel."
Yitzhaki added that the government now fears the growth of the ultra-Orthodox population more than it does the growth of the non-Jewish population. The haredim, he wrote, "are the ones against whom a battle needs to be waged in order to stop growth in any way possible, especially by starving their children."
Hamodia also published a pessimistic editorial claiming that the foreign kids allowed to remain in Israel endanger the state. The article called the opposition to deportation "demagoguery of delicate souls".
It was especially critical of the timing, just a short while after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prevented the Conversion Law from passing, thereby preventing the possibility of "fortifying Israel's Judaism".
Thanks to these moves, the paper says, in the future the state will not be considered Jewish "but for a few islands of haredim"."The Zionist movement has been pursued by a rolling stone for some time, and now it has been buried without a coffin," it adds. "Even the most delusional Zionists never dreamt of a state in which Sudanese, Russian, Thai, Ukrainian, Eritrean, and Romanian people get citizenship."
[Hat Tip: Seymour.]