Demonstrators: Don't deport migrant children

Thousands gathered outside the Tel Aviv Museum Tuesday to call on the government to prevent the deportation of some 1,200 children of migrant laborers.

The demonstration was organized to coincide with the imminent publication of the recommendations of the inter-ministerial committee set up to investigate the issue of these children's status in Israel.

According to leaked information, the committee will recommend that most of the children be allowed to remain in the country, though criteria to decide who may stay have not yet been determined.

According to organizers' estimates, some 8,000 people participated in the rally, including rights groups, the head of UNICEF in Israel, the head of Israel's National Student Union, and Knesset Members Shaul Mofaz (Kadima), Dov Chenin (Hadash), Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz) and Minister Avishay Braverman (Labor), as well as artists and musicians.

Children with banners at protest (Photo: Ofer Amram)

Hundreds of children who may face expulsion were also present with their families, carrying banners with the words, "I am an Israeli child," "Don't deport us," and "Save the children of migrants."

Braverman called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to prevent the deportations.

"Make the moral decision and take in these 1,200 children as equal citizens of the State," he said. "These children should not pay the price for the failure of Israel's governments, which did not define a migration policy. A strong, just state is a state that accepts the 'other' and only thus will we remain a strong state."

Horowitz added his voice, saying: "Just as I am entitled to an ID card, so are they. In Israel's jails there are more than 60 parentless refugee children from Africa… Children should be at school, not behind bars."