Immigration Policies of Israel - Report Example

How has Israel and identity shaped how its immigration policies over the last 30 years? Introduction Israel has since its founding, become one of the most popular immigrant destinations in the world and this has especially been the case with Jewish people from all over the world. It should be noted that because of its immigration policies, that mostly favor Jews or people of Jewish descent, the Israeli government has ensured that it creates a state that is of an essentially Jewish character. The ability of this state to support and provide welfare for the massive wave of Jewish immigrants that have continued to arrive in its territory has often been brought to question. However, the government of Israel has managed to ensure that a significant part of the immigrant population not only receives the support that it needs, but that most of it is integrated into society within a generation. Over the last three decades, Israel has seen a successful wave of immigrants and among these, have been the Ethiopian Aliyah and the Russian Aliyah especially after the fall of the Soviet Union (Spolsky and Shohamy 241). Both of these immigrant waves have faced diverse challenges in integrating with the rest of Israeli society but these have for the most part been overcome in recent years. Furthermore, it should be noted that in the twenty first century, illegal, non-Jewish immigrants from African countries have also made their way to Israel either to seek asylum or to take advantage of whatever economic opportunities they can find in this country. The manner through which the government of Israel has handled these three distinct waves of immigrants has received both praise and criticism in equal measure. Ethiopian Jewish Aliyah The Ethiopian Aliyah was conducted mainly because of humanitarian reasons considering that this population was under threat of being victimized as a result of the conflicts that were taking place in Ethiopia. Starting in the 1970s, the immigration of Ethiopian Jews to Israel was conducted mainly through the coordination of the Israeli government and the governments of Ethiopia and Sudan. Before the immigration process began, there was significant debate concerning the Jewishness of the Ethiopian Jews and the findings from the Ministry of Absorption in 1973 showed that these individuals could not be defined as Jews because of the massive admixture with other local groups in Ethiopia over numerous generations (Perez 59). While this was the case, the government of Menachem Begin decided to facilitate the immigration of this group to Israel. A significant number of Ethiopian Jews believed themselves to have been descended from an ancient Israelite tribe and because of this, they showed a great desire of moving to Israel, which they considered to be their homeland. The Israeli government chose to help them through ensuring that they gained safe passage to their destination. The acceptance of the Ethiopian Jews in Israel came about as a result of the need to ensure that the concept of Zionism remained alive. In addition, it came about under conditions where the Israeli Jewish considered itself to be under demographic threat from the Arab community within the country and the only way to create a demographic balance or superiority would be through bringing in more Jews into the country. The Ethiopian Jews, with their deep belief in their Jewish past were the perfect candidates and this allowed for their eventual settlement and integration into Israeli society. Through cooperation with the government of Sudan, the Israeli government was able to send aircraft, which airlifted these individuals to Israel. However, the process was not easy because Israel and Ethiopia did not have an active diplomatic relationship. This forced the Jews in this country to travel for thousands of miles into Sudan where they hoped to gain the necessary transport to Israel. A significant number of people who attempted this journey died during the trek either from hunger or from attacks from bandits and those that survived could be airlifted to Israel where they hoped to begin new lives (Bard 137). Upon the arrival of the Ethiopian Jews in Israel, the government of this country sought to ensure that their welfare was taken care of. Steps were taken to make housing and all basic facilities available for the new immigrants so that they could begin their integration into the society (Elazar and Weinfeld 13). Furthermore, measures were taken to ensure that the new arrivals were reconverted back to Judaism because a significant number of them were Orthodox Christians and wanted to return to their ancestral religion. For those who were willing, education was provided for them so that they could not only learn Hebrew, but also begin the process of slowly integrating them into society by increasing their literacy rate. It was also found to be essential that this population become conversant with the national language of the Jewish state because this was the only way through which the Jewishness of Israel could continue to be maintained. For many of the Ethiopian Jews, the Hebrew language was extremely difficult to master and this has continued to remain the case for some despite having lived in Israel for many years. In addition, despite their managing to get to Israel, many of the Ethiopian Jews ended up facing many problems, which included culture shock considering that a majority of them came from remote villages and had never been to cities before. These people further had to deal with not only adopting the culture of Israel, but also upholding their long practiced traditions; a situation that was often frowned down upon by the orthodox rabbinical authority in their new country. The integration of Ethiopian Jews into Israeli society took several steps and these were based on tow Master Plans developed by the Israeli government to ensure that the process went as smoothly as possible (Abbink 114). The first Master Plan contained details of how members of this community would be provided with adequate housing, employment, education as well as the formation of practical organizations, which would facilitate their becoming a part of society. The second Master Plan was essentially an update to the former plan and it created amendments, which ensured that the welfare of the Ethiopian Jews was catered for at a much faster pace. It should be noted that it is through the efforts of the government as well as private individuals who sympathized with their cause that the Ethiopian Jews were able to settle effectively in Israel. Unlike immigrants from European and Soviet countries, most of these individuals did not have an educational background necessary to ensure that they secured proper jobs and these instead ended up being unemployed or taking only menial jobs. Many of the Ethiopian Jews had grown up in subsistence economies and this created a situation where they were not well equipped to deal with the highly industrialized and technologically advanced Israeli society. Despite the difficulties they faced, the children of the original immigrants have been able to assimilate into Israeli society to such an extent that unlike their parents, they are conversant in Hebrew and are able to interact with other members of society without much difficulty. The Ethiopian Jewish integration into Israeli society underwent many significant stages among which was the initial acceptance and hostility in equal measure from the rest of society to their presence (Peled 333). This situation has continued to plague the community to this day especially when one considers that while other immigrants to Israel came from advanced societies with high educational backgrounds, the same is not the case with Ethiopian Jews who came from remote rural backgrounds where education was not given a priority. For the most part, Ethiopian Jews have ended up being discriminated against in matters of employment in favor of Israelis from other backgrounds such as the Russian Jews. Moreover, this community has had diverse problems when it comes to racism, which has prompted some of its members to accuse not only the government, but also a part of society of racist discrimination towards them. The government as well as employers have been accused of racist discrimination towards Ethiopian Jews through favoring Jews of European descent in not only official appointments, but also in making sure that members of this community are not given employment. The lack of consideration for the welfare of Ethiopian Jews has sometimes prompted protests from this community although it is yet to be seen whether the government will take any significant action to end the discrimination. Furthermore, one would suggest that the ability of this community to thrive within Israel has come to depend heavily on the younger generation and its being able to integrate in society in such a way that they overcome the problems that their parents encountered as new immigrants. Ethiopian Jews have become an integral part of Israel society despite the problems that they face. This has been evidenced through the number of young men from this community who have served or continue to serve in the Israeli Defense Forces over the years. Majorities of those who serve in the defense forces get an opportunity for social and economic advancement through it and this has ensured that there is a level of prosperity for some members of the Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel (Salamon 176). While this may be the case, there have also been high instances of school dropout rates among members of this community and this has had a negative effect on its advancement because it has denied a significant number of its members the opportunity to take advantage of the favorable economic situation in Israel to improve their lives. In addition, their lack of proper academic credentials has made many of them unemployable in numerous sectors of the economy and this has increased the levels of unemployment within this community; a situation which has the potential of becoming a social disaster in Israel. These problems have been compounded by the lack of proper social integration within Israel because the orthodox rabbinical authority has taken steps to discourage marriages between Ethiopian Jews and Jews from other backgrounds unless they fulfill certain obligations such as declaring full conversion to Judaism (Lerner 214). This action has come to be considered a part of the discriminatory policies that have been adopted by the establishment against Ethiopian Jews and while such instances are limited, they are still a pointed reminder of the stratification within Jewish society. Russian Jewish Aliyah The Russian Jewish Aliyah is one of the most important episodes in the history of Israel because it ensured that the country acquired the necessary technological expertise to get ahead of its neighbors. During the Soviet period, Jewish immigration to Israel had for the most part been heavily regulated if not prohibited and this had made it extremely difficult for the Jews in the Soviet Union to move from the country. Furthermore, those Jews within the Soviet Union who expressed the wish to leave were often branded as traitors and these were believed to be willing to sell out their country. The result was that many Jews in the Soviet Union often felt the need to ensure that their desire to leave was not known and this meant that they had to hide their true feelings from the rest of society. The heavy restrictions that have been placed on Jewish immigration to Israel by the Soviet government were brought to an end through the efforts of Mikhail Gorbachev who made it a point to ensure that Jews were allowed to leave without molestation. However, this move came at a price because all Jews who wished to leave were required to ensure that they renounced their Soviet citizenship while at the same time giving up all of their property in the home country (Dunner 69). Such a move was because the Soviet Union was a communist state and most of the assets within it were considered to be state property. Forcing Jewish immigrants to surrender their citizenship as well as ensuring that they left their property behind was meant to discourage them to immigrate. A significant number of the members of this community chose to emigrate because they believed that their future lay elsewhere other than in the Soviet Union. The fall of the Soviet Union allowed for the development of greater freedom of movement for the Jewish community not only within Russia, but also in former soviet republics. A large number of members of this community who chose to leave decided to settle in Israel and the Israeli government, which helped to airlift those who did not have the means out of the former Soviet Union (Shuval 6), facilitated this. However, some members of this group often came to Israel through their own means, either by ship or by plane from their home cities. The conflicts that erupted after the fall of the Soviet Union also encouraged many Jews to immigrate because a majority of these conflicts was highly nationalistic in nature and there was the fear within the Jewish population that they would be caught in the crossfire (Pinkus 229). Moreover, with the fall of the Soviet Union and with it communism in Russia, most Jews in this country who desired to immigrate to Israel no longer feared for either their citizenship or their property because they could keep both. In this way, a significant portion of the Jewish population chose to leave Russia for Israel while retaining their Russian citizenship as well as the privileges that came with it. Israel therefore became a haven for those Russian individuals who wished to ensure that they lived a life free of religious persecution while at the same time taking advantage of opportunities that were not available in Russia but available in Israel. The Russian Jewish Aliyah after the fall of the Soviet Union is among the biggest to have taken place and it was so efficient that when these people arrived in Israel, they took up a majority of available housing and brought their knowledge and skill which helped in the development of Israel’s economic and technological capabilities (Amit 515; Gunston 136). The Russian immigrants formed large communities of their own and these facilitated the continuation of the cultures of their homelands. These tight knit Russian communities would become extremely influential because of their numbers, they were able to influence the outcomes of different elections. Their acceptance into Israel was as a result of the belief within the population that with every immigrant, the strength of the Jewish state would also be increased. However, despite their contributions to Israeli society, the Russian immigrants, as a result of their not making too much of an effort to assimilate to the Jewish culture and instead choosing to retain their distinctive Russian traditions garnered some resentment from local Israelis. The Russian Jews ensured that they continued to use Russian as their first language before Hebrew and these often isolated themselves in their own communities where they could continue to live as they had in Russia (Grabe 155). The lifestyle of these new immigrants was viewed with suspicion especially by the rabbinical authorities because it was believed that they would lead to a corruption of the Jewish identity of the state. The orthodox rabbinical authorities viewed a significant number of the Russian immigrants as not being Jewish despite these people having Jewish ancestry because many did not have Jewish mothers (Lustick 101). That they did not take active action to ensure that they were completely assimilated into Israeli society as other immigrant groups such as the Ethiopian and Yemeni Jews had done. The Russian Jews also faced hostility from other Israelis as a result of their highly stereotypical views concerning the rest of Israeli society which created a barrier that ensured that they would not assimilate with them as easily as would have been the case had there been cultural understanding. Despite some negative perceptions of them in the Israeli society, it has been widely acknowledged that the Russian Jews have become among the principal contributors to the prosperity that Israel enjoys today. This has been mainly because the large number of educated and skilled individuals who came with this wave of immigrants allowed Israel to advance in different sectors (Herman 63). In addition, it has been recognized that the Russian Jews have also contributed a lot to the education system of Israel with one out of every four member of staff being in universities being a member of this community. Although during the earlier stages of their immigration, they often chose to keep aloof from the rest of Israeli society, the situation has greatly improved with the Russian Jews in Israel having fully integrated into the rest of society. While a significant number of the younger generation have retained Russian as the language that they speak at home, it has been noted that some of them have essentially become multilingual; speaking a mixture of Russian and Hebrew in their daily interactions. The highly influential Russian community has completely changed the political landscape of Israel to such an extent that parties representing them have become very prominent in the country (Peled 142). Winning a significant number of seats in the Knesset, the parties representing the Russian Jews, such as Yisrael Beiteinu under the leadership of Avigdor Lieberman has become the second largest party in the Knesset. This situation means that the Russian Jews, being about 20% of the country’s population, have ensured that they have a strong voice in the political scene. Treatment of Illegal Immigrants in Israel The twenty first century has seen a wave of illegal immigrants coming into Israel from mostly North African countries and this has been mainly as a result of the belief that Israel is not only the safest place to be, but it is also a place of economic opportunity. Most of these immigrants come from Eritrea and the Darfur region in Sudan who seek asylum from the oppressive government regimes that rule their home countries. The conflicts in their home states have forced these immigrants, many of who have chosen to seek asylum in the closest country that they believe to be safe, to enter Israel illegally. The result has been that the Israeli government has chosen to take a tough stance on these individuals in order to discourage such immigration (Orenstein 43). In its bid to ensure that Israel is only a place of refuge for Jews and people of Jewish descent, essentially to retain the Jewishness of Israel, the government has sought to discourage immigration to Israel by members of other ethnic backgrounds. This is the reason why instead of being labeled asylum seekers or illegal immigrants, the immigrants from Africa have come to be labeled as infiltrators. The main route that has customarily been taken by illegal immigrants to Israel has been along the border between Israel and Egypt. Consequently, the government of Israel took the initiative to build a wall along this border to ensure that asylum seekers were no longer able to cross into Israel. This wall cut the number of illegal immigrants entering Israel illegally by roughly 99%; essentially leading to a situation where asylum seekers from conflict areas in Africa were cut off from Israel. Another policy that has been adopted by Israel has been the deportation of illegal immigrants from the country. This has been done through negotiating with diverse African countries to accept these immigrants in exchange for economic and military aid; making sure that the number of these individuals within Israel is greatly reduced while at the same time transferring responsibility for them to other countries. The treatment of illegal African immigrants by the Israeli authorities has come under heavy criticism internationally because a significant number of these individuals have ended up being put in detention centers. The Anti-infiltration Law that was passed by the Knesset in 2012 led to a situation where the poor treatment of African migrants was legalized. Despite this law being struck down by the Supreme Court, the poor treatment of these migrants has continued and the lack of support for them has led to their being concentrated in the poorer sections of the major cities in Israel (Handelzalts). The stereotyping of these immigrants by the Israeli authorities as well as the public has led to their being accused of being responsible for the increase in crime rates; an accusation that has been proven false. Demonstrations against African migrants by the local population have taken place protesting government inaction in dealing with what is considered a problem in their society. Illegal migrants often have difficulty finding jobs and many of the jobs that they end up finding tend to be either menial or low paying. These illegal workers have come to be taken advantage of by employers who often make them work for long hours for little pay. Conclusion The discussion above has attempted to show the manner through which the government of Israel has handled three distinct waves of immigrants and how it has received both praise and criticism in equal measure. It has shown that the Ethiopian Aliyah was conducted mainly because of humanitarian reasons because this population was under threat of being victimized as a result of the conflicts that were taking place in Ethiopia. Furthermore, the acceptance of the Ethiopian Jews in Israel came about because of the need to ensure that the concept of Zionism remained alive. Upon the arrival of the Ethiopian Jews in Israel, the government of this country sought to ensure that their welfare was taken care of. In addition, the integration of Ethiopian Jews into Israeli society took several steps and these were based on tow Master Plans developed by the Israeli government to ensure that the process went as smoothly as possible. In this way, the Ethiopian Jewish integration into Israeli society underwent many significant stages among which was the initial acceptance and hostility in equal measure from the rest of society to their presence. The result of the policy of integration has been that Ethiopian Jews have become an integral part of Israel society despite the problems that they face. The discussion has further looked as Russian Jews, showing that the fall of the Soviet Union allowed for the development of greater freedom of movement for the Jewish community not only within Russia, but also in former soviet republics. The Russian Jewish Aliyah is among the biggest to have taken place and it brought their knowledge and skills, which helped, in the development of Israel’s economic and technological capabilities. Moreover, despite some negative perceptions of them in the Israeli society, it has been widely acknowledged that the Russian Jews have become principal contributors to the prosperity that Israel enjoys today. Finally, the twenty first century has seen a wave of illegal immigrants coming into Israel from mostly North African countries. These immigrants have sought refuge in Israel because of the belief that Israel is not only the safest place to be, but it is also a place of economic opportunity. A policy that has been adopted by Israel has been the deportation of illegal immigrants from the country as well as holding them in detention camps. References Abbink, Gerrit Jan. The Falashas In Ethiopia And Israel: The Problem of Ethnic Assimilation. 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