ISRAEL EXPELLING 400 CHILDREN TO SAFEGUARD THEIR JEWISH IDENTITY

JERUSALEM:

Israel will expel 400 native-born children of non-Jewish foreign workers to help safeguard the country's Jewish identity.

Migrant advocacy groups responded angrily to the decision, arguing that it will punish innocent children by sending them to back to the impoverished nations their parents had left in search of better lives in Israel.

Announcing the decision on Sunday, the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the new policy was also aimed at halting the flow of illegal immigrants across Israel's border with Egypt.

''This decision is influenced by two main considerations, of humanity and Zionism,'' Mr Netanyahu said. ''On the one hand, this problem is a humanitarian problem - 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.''

Israel did not want to create an incentive for hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants to flood the country, he said.

Under new immigration rules, children born to foreign workers who entered Israel legally, and who have lived there for at least five years, speak Hebrew and are enrolled in an Israeli school, will be eligible for permanent residency.

The cabinet voted 13 to 10 in favour of the decision on Sunday. Some ministers voted no because not enough children were being expelled; others voted no because they were opposed to the expulsion of any children.

The decision means that about 400 children of foreign workers must leave Israel by the end of the month with their parents, while 800 children will be eligible to stay.

''This isn't the state of the Jews that I know, that expels children,'' said the Industry Minister, Benyamin Ben-Eliezer, a member of the Labour Party. ''This is not the right time to let people see Israel expelling 400 children.''

Rotem Ilan, the chairwoman of Israeli Children, an advocacy group for migrant workers' families, said: ''They are the children of people who came to Israel legally to work. We brought these people here to plough our fields, build our houses and take care of our grandparents. And with people, come families.''

Ms Ilan said it was the deportation of children that threatened Israel's Jewish character.

''The obligation to act with kindness and compassion to foreigners is the most frequently repeated commandment in the Torah,'' she said.

Several Israeli commentators expressed concern at the impact of the decision on Israel's reputation abroad.