Abstract
Based on its self-definition Israel encourages co-ethnic immigration; citizenship is immediately available to co-ethnic immigrants. Germany has a similar citizenship policy although it does not aim at encouraging co-ethnic immigration anymore. Despite these different laws of return, the core pillars of German, and Israeli citizenship rest on ethnicity as in jus sanguinis, access to either citizenship by way of kinship ties to a German, or Israeli citizen are limited, and obtaining either by way of jus soli remains problematic. Yet, both countries have experienced significant labor migration, with labor migration to Germany being a longer established phenomenon than labor migration to Israel. Also, in both cases, labor migration was defined as temporary based on the idea of both countries being the national homes of Germans, and Jews, respectively. The labor migrants had a purpose, and after that purpose had been fulfilled they were expected to ‘go home’—which did not happen in either country. This scenario led to a double helix of incorporation and rejection of those who are defined as TLMs (temporary labor migrants) in Israel and Germany on the legal, formal level of citizenship, and on the social level. Meanwhile, those who were initially defined as TLMs have become a significant part of society, demographics and the labor markets, while the numbers of those who were incorporated into society and the state—in terms of citizenship and rights—are small. Despite general exclusionary policies, both countries show specific dynamics over time, resulting in changes in immigration policy, and citizenship law.
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- 1.
The amended Law of Return defines an eligible Jew as an individual with at least one grandparent who was a Jew. This stipulation regularly leads to a mismatch between the orthodox rabbinic definition of ‘Jew’ and the more permissive definition of the state. Yet, even that more permissive definition of the state bases on the grandparent that makes for eligibility being recognized rabbinically. Israeli citizenship for Jews can never be divorced from the orthodox interpretation of the Halacha (Jewish religious law).
- 2.
http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/mfa-archive/1950-1959/pages/law%20of%20return%205710-1950.aspx, accessed February 7, 2017.
- 3.
- 4.
This is not to say that the French concept of citizenship is not underpinned by surreptitious discourses (cf. Simon and Clément 2006).
- 5.
A central feature of the neo-republicanism comes as a reaction to criticism on the weak sense of community to which the liberal tradition led.
- 6.
In the Hebrew language this is referred to in a term that is charged with normative aspects and goes back directly to the ethos of Zionism – ירידה descending and עליה ascending.
- 7.
These Germans came only to be legally recognized as such by way of Nazi edict that had turned them into citizens of Nazi Germany after the Nazis had conquered the respective Eastern European countries, leading in consequence to their expulsion (Gosewinkel 2016).
- 8.
Citizens of the former GDR were by definition included in the bracket of ethnic Germans, and had technically immediate access to West German citizenship too.
- 9.
The situation was different for German speaking, culturally and descent-wise Jews from Eastern Europe, who unlike their Christian counterparts might or might not be included into (West) German citizenry, and accepted as ‘German repatriates’ (Panagiotidis 2012). They lacked the crucial intermediary sphere of ‘Christian religion.’
- 10.
Germany, like Israel, has no constitution. In Germany the Basic Law functions as a constitution replacement, and enshrines the basic tenets of the country, including the definition who is considered a German—and by that token has the right to German citizenship in Sec. 116 of the Basic Law.
- 11.
Under specific conditions, which are decided on a case by case basis, Germany knows discretionary citizenship. With specific countries dual citizenship is permitted by definition, with other countries it depends on the discretion of German authorities.
- 12.
That the ‘old’ German is hiding in the subtexts of society and has resurfaced with full force can be evidenced by populist movements like PEGIDA and an unprecedented right swing of the German electorate in recent elections.
- 13.
The ethnic German majority belongs to various Catholic or Protestant streams, or their families belonged to any of these denominations.
- 14.
Nonetheless, illegal Palestinians migrant laborers remain a permanent fixture in Israel – however, they are blocked from citizenship access, other socio-economic progress, mainly due to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
- 15.
In Hebrew “Ovdim Lo Huki’im” עובדים לא חוקיים illegal workers.
- 16.
This number refers to the children that were known as ‘Israeli Childrenʼ – that were united by the NGO with a similar name that fought to adjust their status in Israel. For more information please see the web page of the NGO at: http://www.israeli-children.org.il/about-the-oragnization, accessed February 7, 2017.
- 17.
To date, the vast majority of all foreigners live in the former West of the country. While some migration from other socialist countries occurred to the GDR, it is numerically insignificant compared to West Germany. Furthermore, the integration in the former East are even more problematic than in the former West, and the level of xenophobia remain higher in the East (Decker et al. 2014, p. 61). Decker is part of a team at Leipzig University which has been conducting long-term research in this area since 2002. The research findings remain, problematically, stable, substantiating Aced’s et al. (2014) discourse analysis.
- 18.
This legal area is highly dynamic, and the requirement for co-migrating spouses (non-married partners are disregarded) has been changing throughout since the founding of West Germany in 1949 (Block 2016).
- 19.
The contents of the courses remain contentious (cf. Bassen 2014).
- 20.
These initiatives remain in effect; see www.bamf.de/DE/Rueckkehrfoerderung/rueckkehrfoerderung-node.html, accessed February 7, 2017.
- 21.
Individuals of Maghrebian descent or who immigrated from the Maghreb countries have been subject to increasing negative publicity in the wake of the discoursively constructed refugee crisis since 2015.
- 22.
The book Deutschland schafft sich ab (Germany abolishes itself) by Thilo Sarrazin (2010) triggered a strong public debate about the immigration to Germany in 2013. Sarrazin’s book is right-wing and brought to the fore problematic areas of migration policy and migration, while blaming immigrants for the current state of affairs, and furthermore, discrediting them as genetically different to ‘native’ Germans.
- 23.
A similar discussion took part during the so-called ‘circumcision debate’ in the summer of 2012, when male circumcision for religious reasons became a major issue and both circumcising religions, Islam and Judaism, were similarly disparaged evidencing that neither Islam nor Judaism are part of the hegemonic German mainstream.
- 24.
www.make-it-in-germany.com, accessed February 7, 2017.
- 25.
This perception became more problematic when it emerged that a significant number were Sinti and Roma, a minority that suffers from general prejudice in Germany (Antidiskrimierungsstelle des Bundes, ADS, 2013, http://www.antidiskriminierungsstelle.de/SharedDocs/Pressearchiv/DE/2013/Internationaler%20Tag%20der%20Roma_20130405.html), accessed February 11, 2017.
- 26.
Karen Körber elaborated on this lack of belonging and to be more than just German citizens in regard to Russian speaking Jewish youngsters (Körber 2018).
- 27.
According to the orthodox interpretation of the Halacha.
- 28.
As Joppke (1998) outlined this transparency did not always exist, and decisions based on decree concerning family reunion for non-German citizens existed until 1981.
- 29.
http://www.unhcr.org/3b66c2aa10 accessed February 7, 2017.
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Kranz, D., Zubida, H. (2019). Working Hand or Humans? Temporary Migrants in Israel and Germany: Between Acceptance and Rejection in the Social and Legal Spheres. In: Grünendahl, S., Kewes, A., Ndahayo, E., Mouissi, J., Nieswandt, C. (eds) Staatsbürgerschaft im Spannungsfeld von Inklusion und Exklusion. Studien zur Migrations- und Integrationspolitik. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-25534-3_10
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