| Amnon Rubenstein calls for the dissolution of the Immigration Police
Yesterday Professor Amnon Rubenstein sent a letter to the Prime Minister requesting that the Immigration Police, which he refers to as the “deportation police,” be dissolved.
Salaries of foreign workers low and farmers do not want to hire Arabs
Four groups of workers are employed at a greenhouse in the Hasharon area where gypsophila* flowers are grown: Thais, Palestinians, Arab Israelis employed through labor contractors, and Arab Israelis employed through Maan, which provides assistance to the unemployed.
Children of foreign workers demonstrate against deportation
Dozens of children of foreign workers worried about being deported from Israel protested in front of the Ministry of Interior yesterday demanding that they be granted resident status.
Wait: Before you deport the children, let them finish school
On the eve of Rosh Hashanah last Monday, some 50 children of migrant workers demonstrated outside the Interior Ministry in Tel Aviv.
Organizations that aid foreign workers attack Police Internal Affairs Bureau
Organizations that aid foreign workers are attacking the Police Internal Affairs Bureau, making allegations similar to those made by the Arab population in Israel
“I came for work, not medical treatment”
Sanando works as a companion to the elderly. He came to Israel six months ago after he was laid off from a factory in South Korea where he had work for seven years. Since arriving in Israel he has been working legally, caring for the elderly through a services company agency. He has been sending his salary to his elderly parents in the Philippines
Rabbi Lior: It is prohibited to rent apartments to Thais
Dov Lior, the rabbi of Kiryat Arba, has ruled that it is prohibited to rent apartments to Thais, fearing they will bring their idolatrous statues with them.
Activity report for July 2005 ( Manpower Company O.R.S. sanctioned for imposing illegal fine on worker )
The Enforcement Division in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labour sanctioned manpower company O.R.S. with an administrative fine for violating minimum wage.
Activity report for July 2005 ( The Canadian Dream )
Leonora, a Filipina care worker, contacted me a few months ago and reported a placement agency (“Z’s Domestics” run by Zipora Vikri), which charged her some $1,800 to arrange her a Canadian work visa.
Left to their fate
“I have nowhere to go and I feel like I’m the loneliest person in the world. I want to be free to go wherever I want, just like any other child my age.”
Whether you’re a minor, an orphan, or a foreign worker, you can’t stay in Israel
R.A. was first arrested in June. She was 16 and accused of illegally residing in Israel. Some two weeks later, the Ministry of Interior released her because she is a minor, and gave her 90 days to locate relatives in her home country of Ghana
Never ending humiliation
A year ago, Yediot Aharonot published the story of a woman who had come from Slovakia with her daughter to visit the child’s grandmother
The subcommittee for the enforcement of labor laws is now in session
The head of the subcommittee for the enforcement of labor laws, MK Yuri Shtern, said during the subcommittee’s first session, “The institution enforcing labor laws in Israel has failed miserably.”
New phenomenon: Farmers deport migrant workers themselves
At this very moment Jamnian Possidin sits in a room for passengers who have been refused entry at Ben-Gurion Airport
A black flag
The state of Israel bears a horribly stigma: Israel occupies one of the top spots on global rankings of corruption and income disparity.
Investigation into beating of foreign worker closed due to “insignificance”
While Nikita Zolisoa Constantini—a South African woman married to an Israeli—was walking a street in Kfar Shmaryahu, police officers asked to see her identification
“My mother is the foreigner, not me. Let me out of jail”
Kinga Pardala, 18, moved up to the 12th grade, but she is spending her final days of vacation in prison. The reason, according to the Population Registry, is that she has been an illegal resident since the age of eight, when she joined her mother who came here from Poland
Indian foreign worker sues her employers; says she was treated like a slave
Jacinta Asis Fernandez escaped from her employer’s home, on the seventh floor of a luxury apartment building in Ramat Aviv, with all her belongings stuffed into three garbage bags
Say you fell in the bathroom ( Part - 1 )
In March 2004, Kav Laoved’s* Tel Aviv office was informed by the Thai embassy that 30 workers employed by the Tut Veyerek Company in Tel Mond were complaining that their wages were late, that their employer had confiscated their passports, and that they were treated offensively
Say you fell in the bathroom ( Part - 2 )
This case illustrates the changing attitudes of the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Labor, which has become more willing to revoke permits from employers who do not treat foreign workers in accordance with the law. But the change is limited because the ministry’s management gives in to pressure from employers, who beg and promise to change
Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Labor: Most Chinese workers have become illegal aliens
A study released by the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Labor yesterday show that more than 30,000 foreign workers from China entered Israel with work permits over the last decade, but most of them left their employers and have become illegal residents.
The judges did not know that the Ethiopian woman who cleaned the court stairs was working illegally; now she will be deported
Ajigayu Gardau worked for four years as a cleaner at the Magistrate's Court in Jerusalem. She worked six hours every day, five days a week.
The refugees will be deported and will be forced to leave their wives
On August 31, about 90 refugees from Sierra Leone will be deported to their home country. They came to Israel about ten years ago following persecution by their government, and Israel agreed to grant them refugee status. Now, after peace has come to their country, Israel will fly them back home.
“The Immigration Police behave like Nazis with Jews”
Antonio Modena, the ambassador of the Philippines in Israel , is furious. And how furious? He is seething with fury. The Immigration Police's treatment of Filipino foreign workers is driving him out of his mind, and once he starts talking there's no room for diplomacy.
The choice before A.B.: Live with the husband who raped her daughter or go back to Romania
At the end of March, the director of Eilat's Population Registry, Haim Schnitzer, told A.B., a 44-year-old Romanian who lives in the south, that at the end of the present school year she must leave Israel with her two daughters, 11th- and 12th-grade students
Only 5,500 foreigners to be deported this year
In 2002 the government decided that over a period of two years, 100,000 foreign workers living in Israel without a permit would be deported.
The Jew expels ruthlessly
The newspapers this week were filled with pictures of the children of immigrants, boys and girls, the children of workers who came from Africa, Asia, and Europe, children who were born in Israel , speak Hebrew, and are raised to Israeli culture. Expelled Earlier this week, the Israeli government tried to make points in the media by announcing that it had made a seemingly revolutionary, humanitarian decision, setting up a system to grant residency to the children of migrant workers, who will soon become permanent residents of Israel . The state does not keep it promises: Foreign workers who became illegals due to change in law deported Meng Fu-Wong of the Jiangsu province in China came to Israel three years ago to work in construction, and earn money to support his wife, son and mother. Turkish workers to wait six months for hearing on petition; in the meantime, they face deportation or exploitation Six months ago, two human rights organizations petitioned the High Court of Justice to allow 800 Turkish workers employed here by a Turkish company, Yilmazlar, to change employers, saying the company had mistreated them They forgot him in prison for two months; the commander convicted of neglect On Wednesday (June 22), a police disciplinary court convicted the commander of the Sharon police prison of neglect after he “forgot” a prisoner, leaving him in prison for some two months without taking him before a judge. The court acquitted the prison secretary. Labor laws must be applied to those who employ foreign workers Foreign workers are the weakest workers in the Israeli economy, whether because they are unaware of their rights and of the means available to exercise them or because of the sponsorship system, which prevents them from freely moving from one employer who takes advantage of them to another who might treat them more fairly Cabinet postpones vote on civil status for children of foreign workers The cabinet yesterday postponed voting on a bill that would grant children of foreign workers citizenship and anchor the legal status of their parents. Thirteen foreign minors still detained Last Thursday, the Hotline for Migrant Workers filed a petition with the head of social affairs in the Ministry of Social Welfare, Miriam Faber, asking that a social worker visit 14 minors—the children of foreign workers—who are being held in the Immigration Police's Tzohar Prison Children call on Sharon not to deport foreign workers' kids “We are third-grade students at Balfour School in Tel Aviv. In our class there are two girls whose parents are migrants who are supposed to be deported from our country at the end of this year The exploitation of Thai workers in Israel : conspiracy of silence (part two) The first part of Kav Laoved's special report on the status of Thai workers in Israel discussed state authorities' treatment of these workers. The following is an examination of the typical mistreatment suffered by Thai workers. Every time the grandmother takes her disabled granddaughter for treatment, she is afraid the Immigration Police will break them up Life has not been kind to seven-year-old Milly Carmona, a first grader at Habonim School in Kiryat Bialik. Carmona came to Israel from Argentina two years ago with her family New developments in the rape of the foreign worker New evidence has surfaced that throws suspicions on the police's version of the rape of the foreign worker Bonnie, raising questions of police involvement in the rape and attempts at a cover-up. Ichilov Hospital delays issuing birth certificates to the children of foreign workers until the treatment is paid for, against orders from the Ministry of Health On March 13, K.M., a Filipina woman, gave birth at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv. She left the hospital two days later, but they asked her to come back with the newborn the next day to give him a medical examination. He was tired of waiting for political asylum so he killed himself A tragic incident occurred today in southern Tel Aviv: A 38-year-old Burmese citizen committed suicide today, jumping from a second-floor apartment in southern Tel Aviv, after he despaired while waiting for a response to his request for political asylum. Female worker arrested and rapists released Brutality knows no bounds: A 26-year-old female foreign worker from South Africa has spent over a month in an Immigration Authority prison in Tzohar waiting to be deported from Israel after she was kidnapped, beaten, and raped We are a golden platter for the Jews An artistic-political showcase on the plight of foreign workers was organized last weekend in Yaakov Park next to the Habima Theater, similar to activities taking place in London 's Hyde Park Passover 2005: Is Israel free? Here we are standing on the threshold of Passover, our own holiday of liberation. The Jewish myth has been adopted by generations of Jews, perhaps because it is a source of hope for liberation from the yoke of their oppressors in the Diaspora. The state hinders investigation into complaint against a foreign worker who is now on the verge of deportation A Filipina woman was arrested at the police station when she went to make a statement regarding a complaint submitted against her by her employer The Haifa Labor Court criticized this week the actions of the Interior Ministry regarding an employee who said he was fired after exposing corruption and abuse of foreign workers.
Judge Ita Katzir ruled that the former employee, Asaf Gerti, is to receive compensation for six months salary (totaling NIS 30,000) and for legal costs ( NIS 8,000). However, she rejected his request to be reinstated. The exploitation of Thai workers in Israel : a conspiracy of silence (part one) In recent months, the media has aired deplorable images of Thai workers who live in duck pens, metal tanks, or animal dens virtually every week, to the great displeasure of viewers. What's so strange about calling the Immigration Authority the Deportation Police? From time to time photos are taken of members of the Immigration Police standing near animal pens or dilapidated houses above open sewers used to house foreign workers. Worker jailed because his employer did not pay the fees Some foreign workers are arrested without having committed a crime in order to force their employers to pay their fees to the state. Other workers stay in detention because there is no translator who can help them express themselves Foreign workers arrested on their national holiday Today, Thai citizens around the world are celebrating the Songkran Festival, the Thai New Year. Thousands of Thai citizens living in Israel as foreign workers also celebrated the holiday, but that did not stop the Immigration Police from continuing their operations and arresting workers, even on this special day They “inflated” the number of foreign workers With a hint of pride the Immigration Authority noted in its first annual report that it has succeeded in deporting more than 77,000 illegal foreign workers, most of whom had been arrested, while “others left Israel voluntarily.” He was on the verge of expulsion because the Ministry of Interior was closed for a holiday Are foreign workers paying the price for Passover? This, at least, is what workers at the Hotline for Migrant Workers think after they managed to prevent the deportation of a Bulgarian foreign worker at the last minute. Petition: Olmert ignores the rights of foreign workers Today, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), Kav Laoved, and the Hotline for Migrant Workers submitted a petition to the High Court of Justice against the Minister of Industry, Trade, and Employment and against the official in charge of the Ministry's foreign worker department. Not enough money to legalize the status of children of foreign workers Apparently children of foreign workers who have been waiting several years for their status in Israel to be legalized will be forced to wait at least a few more days.
The ongoing efforts first by former interior minister Avraham Poraz and now by the current holder of the post, Ophir Pines-Paz, to legalize the status of the children of the small number of foreign workers still in Israel is but the latest chapter in one of the most scandalous affairs the State of Israel has known in recent years—the case of the children of the shadows.
A Ukrainian woman, whose severely handicapped son is an Israeli citizen and requires her assistance on a daily basis, is to be deported by the Interior Ministry. We want to see you with the documents Tasfaldt Kehaissy, his wife Lakia Yitzhak and their two small children had a harrowing experience three weeks ago. In the late afternoon, three Immigration Police officers stopped Kehaissy as he left his workplace Thai workers found living in cages with geese and rats Immigration Police officers involved yesterday in a pre-dawn raid on a goose farm on Moshav Ben Zakai were horrified to discover 14 Thai workers living in cages designed for geese “Prove that you're in Israel” The novelist Franz Kafka often described the struggle of the simple citizen against an obstinate bureaucracy. The story of Inas Kurmetz, a 29-year-old resident of Jaljulya, could have been one of Kafka's own: Today, she asked the Tel Aviv District Court to issue an order proving that she is in Israel. The Philippines lodges an official protest over the treatment of its citizens in Israel The Philippine government lodged an official protest over the mistreatment of its citizens who go to Israel . IDF Radio reported that the Philippine ambassador in Israel informed the Foreign Ministry in Manila that Filipino workers going to Israel on Israeli planes are made to sit in the back of the plane, regardless of their assigned seat numbers Bambili in cooperation with the Sierra Leonean community organizes a campaign to prevent the deportation of the community from Israel Sierra Leoneans living in Israel have been informed by the Ministry of Interior that they should prepare to leave Israel and return to their country by the beginning of August. There they discuss and here they deport No country in the Western world has succeeded in having a policy as extremist as Israel 's deportation policy over the past three years. It is enough for us to compare the 12,430 people who were deported from Britain in 2004 with the approximately 20,000 people who were deported here, along with another 40,000 who “voluntarily left” Israel for fear of deportation that same year Police accuse the Immigration Authority of inflating the numbers After the deportation of tens of thousands of foreign workers, what exactly is left for the Immigration Authority to do? If you ask police commanders, you'll get a strange response: The Immigration Authority is busy these days with inflating the numbers so it can preserve its budget. “Prove that you're 13 years old” Celine Okaka, from Nigeria , says that she is 13 years old; William Eknes from Ghana says he is 16 years old. Casey Obi from Nigeria says that he is 17 years old, while Tsigozi Udenze from Nigeria says that he will celebrate his 18th birthday in June Greetings from the Third World At the end of the week, the American INS (Immigration and Naturalization Services) arrested dozens of young Israelis working in New York without a permit in a raid on Club Euphoria on the Lower East Side A mistake that leads to prison: The employee made a mistake and the prisoner—a Turkish foreign worker—got another 22 years in prison A foreign worker from Turkey who had been sentenced to prison for two years, might have had to spend another 22 years in prison. The reason: the employee who recorded his prison sentence wrote down 24 years instead of 24 months Immigration police had sex with a call girl and kept her from being arrested Rumors are circulating that a call girl, who entered Israel illegally, made a protection agreement with an immigration police team in Tel Aviv. The agreement stipulated that in return for sex, members of the police would not turn her in to the Ministry of Interior. U.S. may punish Israel for not acting against human trafficking The United States may rank Israel among the group of countries not taking action against human trafficking - a move that could result in the imposition of economic sanctions Interior Minister urged to changed his proposed criteria for granting citizenship to children of foreign workers for being “inhumane” The Association for Civil Rights in Israel yesterday urged Interior Minister Ophir Pines-Paz to alter his proposed criteria for granting citizenship to children of foreign workers Beneath the ground Yesterday morning—after receiving a tip-off—the immigration police raided one of the orchards in the Ramat Hakovesh kibbutz, north of Kfar Saba Official human trafficking In August 2004, a ministerial committee—composed of the Ministries of Industry, Commerce, and Labor, Justice, and Finance—prepared a report suggesting changes in the system for employing foreign workers in Israel Let's make a fortune at the expense of foreign workers This morning, Israeli Army Radio reported that the Knesset's Social Affairs Committee approved the second and third readings of an article in the foreign workers compensation l aw which regulates the expense of deporting foreign workers. From now on, the state will not bear the cost of deporting foreign workers Court releases a foreign worker after having kept her locked up for two weeks despite the fact that she is a single mother The District Court in Tel Aviv has released a woman from Ghana who spent two weeks in jail, despite the fact that she told them that she had left her baby by himself. They found the immigrant and painted a pleasing picture At school, they taught us that Israel is a country of immigrants who come from all over the world. They also taught us that immigration to Israel means to “improve one's status,” and that we must help those who immigrate here to fit in. Yet again, the reason behind the arrest is a stamp A foreign worker, who arrived in Israel a year ago, gave his sponsor around a thousand dollars in order to renew his residency permit. They took advantage of me, and now they are firing me About two weeks ago, police sources criticized the immigration police's modus operandi. Now, a foreign worker from Uzbekistan has joined the fray, claiming that despite the fact that she has been working as an informer for the immigration police, she is currently on the verge of being fired. Your release in return for your husband's imprisonment The woman, who lives in Israel with her husband and two children, appeared before attorney Elad Ezer, a judge in the foreign workers' court at the Ministry of Justice. Children of foreign workers receive legal status in Israel
In the final moments before his resignation came into effect, Interior Minister Avraham Poraz responded to a request from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) to use his authority to grant legal status to the children of foreign workers who were born and raised in Israel Haifa : Foreign worker jumps from a window fleeing the police Yesterday a foreign worker from the Philippines was moderately injured in Haifa when she jumped from a second-floor window and fell on the cement roof of another floor. Detained Nigerian foreign worker put in solitary confinement because of AIDS It is well known that the Israeli Immigration Police track down foreign workers in Israel and imprison them, but recent reports of the degrading, inhumane treatment of some of these workers makes one angry every time. Foreign children are disappearing in prisons Bambili, an association that aids foreign workers, discovered that children were arrested after an illegal resident who was detained in the prison near Eilat informed them that he had seen detained children Complaint against exaggerated minimum wage for foreign workers
Fifty industrial projects—most of which are owned by members of the Manufacturers' Union— have submitted a petition to the High Court of Justice against the Ministry of Trade, Commerce, and Labor; the Ministry of Interior; and the Ministry of Domestic Security protesting the decision to raise the minimum wage for foreign workers.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) asked State Prosecutor Eran Shendar to consider appealing what the association claimed was a light sentence issued by the Beersheba District Court to policemen convicted of raping a foreign work. The policemen were sentenced to two years in prison.
The manager of a metal factory in Beersheba was arrested after he attempted to attack a foreign worker who demanded his passport. The man was arrested after the Immigration Police investigated the complaint filed by the foreign worker. Only two years in prison for two policemen who raped a foreign worker The day before yesterday, the Beersheba District Court sentenced two policemen from the Negev to two years in prison. The policemen were convicted of rape, dishonoring the profession, and removing a witness Foreign women are worried about the fate of their children Kav Laoved claims that since it told Ynet about the Ministry of Interior's new regulation requiring pregnant foreign workers either to leave Israel after giving birth or send their children abroad, it has received several complaints from panicking mothers No minister An interim order from the interior minister has forbidden the deportation of foreign workers with children born in Israel . The Immigration Police seem to be ignoring it. A bad solution whether for deportees or those remaining The anticipated decision to deport more than 800 children of foreign workers along with their parents holds many tragedies for families who have already endured much suffering even without this decision. Tel Aviv: Arrests in front of churches This morning plainclothes policemen with the Immigration Authority arrived at the old central station in Tel Aviv. The police officers arrested foreign workers leaving the church, taking them by bus directly to the Immigration Authority to verify that they had legitimate work permits.
Fixing the mistake: Today, Tel Aviv District Court Judge Uzi Fogelman, ruled that Raja Navamani, a foreign worker from India , should be brought back to Israel , after she was deported late at night in violation of a court order. The judge thus accepted the agreement between the prosecution and the petitioners from Bambili.
The Interior Ministry to deport the children of foreign workers from Israel : Ynet has learned that Population Registry Director Sassi Katzir has issued a new regulation allowing female foreign workers up to 12 weeks from the date of their delivery to decide whether to leave Israel with the child or send the infant to their families abroad.
Saturday night was a black Sabbath for hundreds of families of foreign workers who had been fearing deportation for two years. From church to church and home to home, a rumor spread that families with children under the age of ten would be deported from Israel Petition to the High Court of Justice asks for medical treatment for two girls whose mothers are not Israeli
Physicians for Human Rights and the Adva Center submitted a petition today to the High Court of Justice against the Health Minister, the Interior Minister, the Social Security Authority
Not without my son: the Interior Minister behaves with usual cruelty
Irina Yermolin has the photos she took on her last visit to Kazakhstan a week ago. She visited her son Yevgeny, 12, who lives with his maternal grandmother. Irina also took a video camera with her and filmed him everywhere: at school, at his birthday, even in the bathroom. Before this visit, she hadn't seen Yevgeny in two years. Since she arrived in Israel nine years ago, he has lived there and she has lived here
Six years in prison without cause
Many people hear the name “Sympatia” and smile. It describes a man who inspires immediate sympathy, kisses women's hands, hugs his male friends, cries when touched, is self-deprecating, and rages against injustice against others
Interior Ministry violates order banning the deportation of a foreign worker
Is the Ministry of Interior breaking the law? Tonight around midnight, a foreign worker from India named Raja Navamani was put on a plane and deported from Israel , in violation of a court order barring her deportation.
Ex-minister may have conned government for his maid
The police and state prosecution are drawing up a case against former religious affairs minister Aharon Abuhatzeira on charges that include defrauding the Interior Ministry in hiring a maid whom he allegedly treated like a personal slave. | 
