Our Protest: “We Say No to Deporting Kids!”

14/08/22

Our protest on Saturday night and was inspiring, impactful and deeply moving: we were out there calling for a permanent resolution for the status for the Israeli-born children of foreign workers, and demanding their safety from the threat of deportation. When Beth, one of the Filipina mothers, shared about her journey and the home life of her and her 15-year old daughter, living in the dark terror of being deported, I could not stop the tears from coming.

Hundreds of Zazim members donated to cover the costs of putting this protest together, and many others came out in person to support the hundreds of children, born and raised in Israel, who live under the constant threat of deportation. We raised our voices to demand that Prime Minister Lapid take immediate action to render the status of these children permanent, stable, and safe. We were joined by activists and artists from a wide range of other groups and contexts, uniting around one core principle and one clear purpose -- we say no to deporting kids!

The shared struggle to support these kids is still underway, but we know that Prime Minister Lapid and the other decision-makers in the government won’t be able to shut out the power of our protest yesterday and the massive media coverage it received.

Thank you to all the Zazim members who showed up by donating and who showed up by protesting, and thank you to all our partner-organizations in this cause -- the mothers’ organization United Children of Israel, Culture of Solidarity, and Achoti. 

Photo Credit: Oren Ziv