Israel is deporting kids – now

Published on March 30, 2011

I have to hand it to the immigration police, Interior Minister Eli Yishai and the government – they’re clever. I honestly never believed they would deport hundreds of children of foreign workers who are here illegally – not because they didn’t want to, but because there would be too much of an international Jewish outcry, like there was last summer when the government okayed the plan. Certainly not after a documentary about foreign children in South Tel Aviv, “Strangers No More,” just won an Oscar.

Folk Singer Observes a Pensive ‘Holiday’

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on January 1, 2004

Some years ago, folk diva Chava Alberstein discovered the rundown immigrant neighborhood around the south Tel Aviv central bus station. For the Israeli superstar, the area became a refuge, a place to stroll or sip coffee unmolested by fans. The residents were foreign workers from countries such as China, Thailand, Nigeria and Romania.

But as their numbers swelled to replace Palestinians after the intifada, Alberstein -- considered Israel's Joan Baez -- saw conditions deteriorating.

"These people are brought to Israel, their passports are confiscated so they can't go anywhere and they're forced to live in the worst situations," she said. "You see people crawling out of the most unbelievable hovels. It's bothered me for a long time."