It was reported this morning that Israel is preparing to expel hundreds of small children born in Israel to migrant workers. Though the children were born and raised in Israel and speak Hebrew, they are not Israeli and do not belong there. Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu said the program was needed to stem a "flood of illegal immigrants." About 400 children and their parents are expected to leave. Netanyahu went on to say "We don't want to create an incentive for the inflow of hundreds of thousands of illegal migrant workers": a familiar enough argument, even if the numbers are exaggerated. But Netanyahu went on to say that the move was necessary to defend Israel's Jewish identity. That is also a familiar enough argument. But is familiar for quite different reasons. It is the argument that lay behind many of the most grievous crimes and savagery in history.
To get a sense of this argument one should try it on for size. Pick an ethnicity, race or religion and see how that argument sits on the ears. "We need to expel blacks to preserve our white identity." "We need to expel the Chinese to preserve our European identity." "We need to expel Catholics to preserve our Protestant identity." They don't quite seem to have the same ring about them.
If anyone should know the perils of defining a state along the lines of race, religion, or ethnicity, Israel should. The Jews have suffered from that more than most.
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