Herzog: Israel looking to adopt orphans from Haiti quake

[Kurska]

"Israel is looking into the possibility of adopting children left orphaned by the January 12 earthquake that devastated Haiti, Minister of Welfare and Social Services Isaac Herzog told The Jerusalem Post Saturday.

We see this as part of Israel's humanitarian outreach," said Herzog, referring to the massive Israeli medical operation that has already reached the Caribbean country over the past few weeks, including some 10 tons of medical equipment and more than 100 medical staff.

He continued: "Haiti was one of the countries that supported us on November 29, 1947 and now it's our turn to support them."

According to Herzog, an emergency meeting was already held Thursday between representatives of Israel's Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Ministry of Welfare and Social Services, which is responsible through its Child Welfare Services for overseeing all international adoptions in Israel, to discuss the fine details of this particular operation."

"On Friday, the United Nations organization that oversees the welfare of children warned that the possibility of child trafficking following the earthquake had become a main concern. It said that many children separated from parents had become vulnerable to trafficking and sexual exploitation.

In Israel, families that adopt children from abroad are financially compensated by the government, receiving subsidies of more than NIS 100,000. Herzog said that all children adopted from Haiti would undergo the standard conversion process to Judaism."

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1263147960538&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull

[Violet_Crumble]

1. So? I'm sure lots of other countries are too... n/t

[Kurska]

3. Well, I'm sure there are articles in their online news sites aswell n/t

[Violet_Crumble]

5. So what's the big deal about it then? Why post it in the I/P fourm?

[PCIntern]

7. Because we like to pull your chain, Violet!

that's why...

[Violet_Crumble]

8. Yr not doing a very good job of it, then...

Coz all I'm getting out of the slavering over Israel is a sense of pity for those who think the earthquakes either All About Israel or is nothing but a great PR opportunity for Nutty's govt...

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

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[Violet_Crumble]

12. How so? It might help if you explain this supposed lack of perspective...

Maybe you can explain why it's okay for some folk to think It's All About Israel and why people are denying it's being used for PR when very clearly it is (and I'm sure Israel isn't alone in that regard)

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

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[Violet_Crumble]

16. I didn't think you'd be able to answer the question..

I haven't spewed any venom either, btw. If you decide to try to participate in a normal and mature way without the abuse, please feel free to explain exactly where my lack of perspective was...

As for yr last sentence, that's completely incoherent. I didn't lose anything in 1967, and as you seem to be trying to talk to me as if I'm a Palestinian, here's a newsflash - the West Bank and Gaza aren't part of Israel, as that's what yr comment seems to be implying. You really need to educate yrself a bit on international law coz Might Makes Right was done away with back around the time women gained the vote...

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Violet_Crumble]

19. It appears to matter a lot to you otherwise you wouldn't be flinging insults at me...

Time to stop biting my tongue. You are evidently not the slightest bit interested in any mature or civilised discussion and think that throwing lame insults around does the trick. No, I do not hate Israel, so knock off the nonsense. I hate to interrupt you humping Israel's leg the way you are, but criticism of Israel (and actually in this case I wasn't even criticising Israel but mindless leg-humpers like yrself) is not hatred.

So take yr delusional blabber about me losing in 1967 and whatever other extremist crap you've got up yr sleeve and shove it up yr trollish arse...

[Kurska]

13. Because this is where Israel stuff goes...

If I posted this in GD it would get locked and moved here.

[Violet_Crumble]

14. This is where stuff about the I/P conflict goes.

I tested out a theory I had and posted an OP in this forum that while praising the relief efforts from Israel, also pointed out that those efforts are in stark contrast to the way Israel treats the people of Gaza. The volume of abuse and nastiness from one or two posters (neither of whom I'd refer to as regulars) aimed at me for posting it was sudden and just a bit OTT (according to them I'm supposed to hate Israel, have lost in 1967, and am bitter)...

I guess yr probably right that the thread would have been moved down here if you'd posted it in GD, btw...

[Kurska]

20. I've seen nastiness on both sides, surely this doesn't surprise you by now.

We're both about 1,000 posts into this business, at the very least.

[Warpy]

2. Haiti has always wanted to keep her children

whether or not they have parents living. Their laws for offshore adoption are some of the toughest in the world.

Israel should look elsewhere.

[Kurska]

4. Considering the circumstances. n/t

[stray cat]

11. In fact - Haiti lets them get kidnapped and sold into slavery and prostitution

important to keep them in country so the blackmarket in childhood slavery prospers

[Violet_Crumble]

17. Yr accusing the Haitian govt of allowing that to happen? That's a pretty huge accusation...

I'd like to see some evidence to support that claim. Or are you saying Haiti allows it to happen in the same way India allows it to happen to its children? If that's the case, I'm sorry, but they don't allow anything of the sort. It's that they can't stop it from being done...

[DesertFlower]

6. israel also welcomed the vietnamese

boat people.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1159193357339&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

[Violet_Crumble]

9. So did Australia and other countries n/t

[shaayecanaan]

21. No, they didnt...

they accepted around 300 Vietnamese refugees.

Australia, by comparison, accepted 90 000.

Obviously, Australia is three times larger in terms of population, but the extreme paucity of refugees granted permanent asylum in Israel in no way justifies an assertion that Israel welcomed refugees with open arms.

[Ken Burch]

22. It's a neutral development

If some Israelis are interested in doing this, I commend their humanity.

It does NOT, however, justify the Occupation or prove the moral superiority of Israelis over Palestinians.

Agreed?

[grassfed]

23. Israeli Parents to receive $32,000.00 and Haitian orphans converted to Judaism - Jerusalem Post

In Israel, families who adopt children from abroad receive €22,000 ($31,097) from the state to help cover the high international adoption fees. Herzog said that all children adopted from Haiti would undergo the standard conversion process to Judaism.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1263147960538&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull

---

Israel is contemplating adopting Haitian children orphaned by the earthquake. I don’t know how you would approach adopting such a child. But one of my first considerations given I am Jewish and white and the adoptee is Christian and black, is to figure out a way to honor the child’s religious and ethnic background. Not so Israel according to Social Welfare Minister (Labor) Isaac Herzog:
Herzog said that all children adopted from Haiti would undergo the standard conversion process to Judaism.
A few pointed questions: you’re going to force 8, 10 or 12 year-old boys to undergo brit milah? You’re going to bring Creole-speaking, black Christian children 5,000 miles from their home to live in a country which already faces ethnic discrimination against its Ethiopian immigrants. Why are you doing this? To flatter your vanity as a humanitarian? Wouldn’t it be better to work on improving Haiti’s ability to care for its own orphans and placing them for adoption either in that country or neighboring majority-black countries?
To me, Israel’s effort is the white man’s burden run amok.
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2010/01/24/maariv-haitis-disaster-good-for-jews/

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“A US Jewish group has denounced a call by an international evangelical organization to target European Jewry for conversion, declaring it a “serious affront to the Jewish people” and “disrespectful to Judaism’s own teachings.”
http://ejpress.org/article/29965

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On the one hand, they import non-Jewish children and convert them to Judaism, on the other hand, they expel Israeli-born children and people with the wrong Jewish parent who have already been practicing Jews. They can convert Haitians but not the Israeli-born children of foreign workers? Not to mention the fact that Haiti is closing foreign adoptions due to reports of child abductions.

[Crunchy Frog]

24. Oh great. Forcing circumcision on already traumatized orphaned children

and then forcing them to abandon their own religious and cultural identities. Helps with the demographics though.

[azurnoir]

25. I would question that "demographic" help

when I first read this my thought were that some of the Orthodox Rabbi's were probably having fits over this and I class it with a sibling of mine who converted and became a Christian fundie when she married who also has now adopted 2 Asian children

[Djinn]

26. not neccesarilly the best idea

and it has nothing to do with Israel or any other country offering to do this. Children are often best served by support in their own country, there are often extended family networks who are more than willing to care for orphaned children. It would be better for nations who wanted to help to support those families to do so rather than taking children away from everything they know which often compounds the trauma.

Overseas adoption in times of crisis also leads to child trafficking and exploitation

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/children-are-best-left-with-their-families-20100120-mlou.html
http://www.theage.com.au/world/haiti-detains-child-traffickers-20100131-n6e5.html
http://www.theage.com.au/world/americans-suspected-of-child-trafficking-20100131-n628.html
http://www.theage.com.au/world/adoption-frenzy-sparks-fear-20100123-mrj1.html