When Israel's Kadima party disappears please take this MK with you

LOTL..
08 November '12..






From The Times of Israel:

The government has quietly decided to approve, after a five-year hiatus, continued immigration of the Bnei Menashe, a tribal group based in north-eastern India and in Burma that claims descent from the lost tribe of Menashe.

On Tuesday, Army Radio reported that a flight of 274 new immigrants is scheduled to arrive within a few weeks.

He endangers the Jewish identity of the state?

About 1,700 members of the tribe already reside in the country, mostly in West Bank settlements, especially in Kiryat Arba. There are an estimated 7,000 to 9,000 Bnei Menashe remaining in India and Burma. In 2005, Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar ruled that the tribe had Jewish roots but members must still undergo a conversion process to be eligible to immigrate under the Law of Return.

In 2007, immigration was effectively halted by a change in government policy, which required issues of mass immigration and conversion to be approved by cabinet decision, instead of just the Interior Ministry.

MK Meir Sheetrit (Kadima), who was interior minister in 2007, and who opposes renewed immigration for the community, said Tuesday that it endangered the Jewish identity of the state.

“Apparently, there are those in government who think that if they come to Israel and convert to Judaism, maybe they will vote in future elections,” Sheetrit said in an interview to Army Radio.

It's really difficult to know where to begin but the community of Kiryat Arba-Hevron has been home and host to probably the largest grouping of Bnei Menashe in Israel. Perhaps that they live here is their ultimate crime, and that they are a bedrock of our Beit Knesset and congregation are what endangers the Jewish identity of the state. Perhaps those that work at Ma'arat HaMacpela (Cave of the Patriachs) in Hevron, welcoming the hundreds of thousand of guests each year are the ones that MK Sheetrit would prefer stay away so as to not endanger the Jewish identity of the state. And look at the numbers, 275 of them are on the way. And if they come to Israel and convert to Judaism, maybe they will vote in future elections. Even if the entire 7,000 to 9,000 are ultimately allowed to arrive, to make Aliyah, this will not make or break an election, nor will it return Kadima to the next Knesset.

A better and more accurate description would be that of Michael Freund, who has devoted much time and energy to the Bnei Menashe:

“The Bnei Menashe are a blessing to Israel and the Jewish people,” Freund told the Post, “They work hard, support themselves and their families, serve in the IDF and raise beautiful Jewish children.”

As good of a description of my neighbors as one can say, and our wishes for their continued success.

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