Dozens of children of immigrant workers asked the government on Tuesday to grant them citizenship and allow them to serve in the Israeli army, according to public broadcaster Kann.
The teens sent a letter to Interior Minister Moshe Arbel, Defense Minister Israel Katz, IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and the Prime Minister’s Office.
The teenagers allegedly made this request using a legal clause that allows citizenship to be granted to those who contribute to the state.
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In a related initiative, a similar letter was recently sent on behalf of 120 adolescents by the Refugee and Migrant Hotline.
Since the start of the war, a number of teenagers have made individual requests to join the IDF, requests which have not been accepted, according to Kann.
“I feel like I’m at home. Israel gave me a lot and I want to give back to the country what it gave me,” one of the teenagers told the channel.
The issue of the place of children of foreign workers in the Israeli army returned to the forefront this week when Arbel announced that the father of Israeli army reservist Cedrick Garin, who was killed, would be granted permanent resident status in Israel.
Enrico Basilio was deported from Israel to the Philippines 22 years ago, when his son was only 2 years old. The child was raised solely by his mother, Imelda, also from the Philippines, who maintained her temporary resident status even after Cedrick was granted citizenship following his service in the IDF ranks.
Basilio returned to Israel in January this year for the first time since his expulsion, to attend his son’s funeral. The 23-year-old IDF reservist was among 21 soldiers killed in Gaza in January, when a deadly rocket launcher attack collapsed two buildings where soldiers were located.
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