Israel to deport hundreds of migrant workers' children

JERUSALEM -- Israel moved Sunday to deport the offspring of hundreds of migrant workers, mostly small children who were born in Israel, speak Hebrew and have never seen their parents' native countries.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the new policy was intended to stem a flood of illegal aliens, whose children receive state-funded education and health care benefits, and to defend Israel's Jewish identity.

"On the one hand, this problem is a humanitarian problem," Mr. Netanyahu said during a meeting Sunday of the Cabinet, which had debated the move for nearly a year. "We all feel and understand the hearts of children. But on the other hand, there are Zionist considerations and ensuring the Jewish character of the state of Israel."

On another matter, Mr. Netanyahu issued a stern warning to Gaza's Hamas rulers after a weekend of rocket attacks from the Palestinian territory on Israeli communities.

He told his Cabinet that Israel holds the Islamic militant group responsible for the rare flare-up in violence and would retaliate for any attack against its people.

The attacks, including a rocket fired Friday at an Israeli city six miles from Gaza, caused damage but no injuries. No Palestinian group took responsibility for the attacks.

Israel responded with a series of airstrikes on militant targets in Gaza, including one that killed a senior commander of the Hamas military wing.

Early today, a huge blast leveled the house of a Hamas commander in the Deir el-Balah refugee camp in southern Gaza, wounding at least 32 people, according to Palestinian security officials. They said the blast was the result of an Israeli airstrike, but Israel's military denied that, saying there was no Israeli activity in the area.

As for the new immigration policy, critics, including some government officials, said the decision would punish innocent children by sending them to impoverished or insecure nations that their parents had left in search of better lives in Israel.

The new policy is aimed at children of foreign workers who arrived legally and then started families. Under Israeli law, the children were not automatically granted residency status.

About 400 children and their parents are expected to leave Israel over the next month. Another 800 children may qualify to stay and receive residency status if they meet certain requirements such as living for the last five years in Israel and attending grade school.

The Associated Press contributed.

First published on August 2, 2010 at 12:00 am