{"id":2230,"date":"2011-05-16T12:01:24","date_gmt":"2011-05-16T10:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/law.acri.org.il\/en\/?p=2230"},"modified":"2011-05-23T16:34:19","modified_gmt":"2011-05-23T14:34:19","slug":"prominent-american-jewish-lawyers-stop-the-slavery-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.acri.org.il\/en\/2011\/05\/16\/prominent-american-jewish-lawyers-stop-the-slavery-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Prominent American-Jewish Lawyers: “Netanyahu, Stop the Slavery Law”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, 16 May 2011, the 18th<\/sup> Knesset opened its 2011 Summer Seat. On the first day of this Knesset seat, a very dangerous bill will be brought to the Knesset for its second-third (i.e. final) reading.
\n 
\nThis bill is the “Slavery Law,”<\/a> which aims to restrict the conditions of migrant workers in the nursing professions. According to this bill, the Minister of Interior will have the power to bind migrant caretakers to their employers; to subsections of nursing services; to a set number of employers they may switch; and to a specific geographic location in which they may work. This bill constitutes an attempt to restore the previous arrangement that bound migrant workers to their employers, and which the Supreme Court has already criticized in 2006 as \u201ca modern form of slavery”.<\/a>
\n 
\nAhead if the final reading of this bill, 91 prominent American-Jewish legal experts sent a letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and to the Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, urging them to stop this unconstitutional legislation initiative. This letter, initiated by the New Israel Fund and by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), was written in support of a previous letter, sent by prominent Israeli retired judges, law professors, and lawyers opposing the “Slavery Law.”<\/a>
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\nThe American-Jewish lawyers’ letter is posted below.
\n 
\n—–
\n 
\nTo:<\/strong>
\n 
\nBinyamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel
\nMK Reuven Rivlin, Speaker of the Knesset
\n <\/strong>
\nHonorable Sirs,
\n 
\nAs Jews who deeply care about Israel, as lawyers, indeed as human beings, we are gravely concerned about a recent legislative attempt to revoke the most basic rights of migrant caretakers in Israel: people, mostly women, who have traveled far from home in order to provide for their families, and who work in Israel caring for the elderly, the disabled, and other persons in need of physical assistance.
\n 
\nWe hereby express our support for the letter written by our Israeli colleagues<\/a> \u2013 retired judges, law \u00a0professors, and law researchers \u2013 regarding a proposed Knesset bill, Amendment 21 to the Israel Entry Act, which will restrict work permits issued to migrant workers in the nursing professions in Israel.
\n 
\nThe letter written by our Israeli colleagues sheds light on the dangerous ramifications that this proposed bill, if enacted, would have on the lives of one of the most weakened groups within Israel: migrant caretakers. This proposed legislation will enhance the dependence of migrant caretakers on their employers for their legal status, thereby limiting their ability to escape from abusive employment conditions. Such an irregular legal reality \u2013 which conflicts with the basic principles of Israeli labor laws and with the very purpose of a labor contract \u2013 severely infringes on a wide range of protected human rights, primarily the right to dignity and to personal freedom. It also infringes upon Israel\u2019s commitments under international law to workers\u2019 rights.
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\nAs pointed out by our Israeli colleagues, this bill attempts to restore the previous “binding arrangement” between migrant workers and their employers, which Judge Chesin of the Court deemed in 2006 as “a modern form of slavery” (HCJ 4542\/02 The Kav La’Oved v. the Israeli Government, ver. 71(1) 346 (2006))<\/a>. Such legislation is clearly unconstitutional, fails to satisfy the principle of proportionality, and contradicts common standards of human morality.
\n 
\nWe have just celebrated Passover, the “Holiday of Freedom,” a time in which we are required to remember our people’s past as foreign slaves, as migrant workers in Egypt if you will. As the Bible specifically instructs us: “You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 22:21).
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\nIn light of the above, we wish to express our support for our Israeli colleagues’ letter, and we join them in calling on you to stop the legislation procedures of this bill and to hold an extensive and calculated discussion regarding its potential ramifications.
\n 
\n 
\nRespectfully yours,
\n 
\n 
\nRobert Bloom, Boston College Law School
\nYishai Boyarin, Mediation Clinic, Hofstra University
\nSandra Coliver, Open Society Justice Institute
\nPeter Edelman, Georgetown University Law Center
\nYasmin Ergas, Institute for the Study of Human Rights, Columbia University
\nEric Freedman, Maurice A. Deane Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Law, Hofstra Law School
\nMonroe Freedman, Hofstra University School of Law
\nEmily Goodman
\nDaniel Greenwood, Professor of Law, Hofstra University College of Law
\nAriela Gross , Gould School of Law, University of Southern California
\nHadar Harris, American University Washington College of Law
\nJames Kainen, Fordham University School of Law
\nVictor Kovner, co-founder, J Street and board member, Americans for Peace Now
\nSeth Kreimer, University of Pennsylvania Law School
\nStefan Krieger, Director, Center for Applied Legal Reasoning, Hofstra University School of Law
\nJames Kushner, Southwestern Law School
\nShari Motro, University of Richmond School of Law
\nRussell Pearce, Fordham University School of Law
\nKathleen Peratis
\nDinah PoKempner
\nTodd Rackoff, Harvard Law School
\nGustin Reichbach
\nRicki Roer, Chair National Employment Practice Team, Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman \u00a0&Dicker LLP
\nDavid Rudovsky, Senior Fellow, Penn Law School
\nBarry Scheck, Co-Founder of the Innocence Project
\nHerman Schwartz, American University Washington College of Law
\nLaurence Tribe, Harvard Law School
\nAlan Weisbard, University of Wisconsin Law School
\nStephen Wizner, Yale Law School
\nAnonymous
\nAnonymous
\nAnonymous
\nAnonymous
\nAnonymous
\nGeoffrey Abrams, Retired lawyer
\nKaren Abravanel
\nAllan Abravanel
\nKaren Adler
\nOz Benamram
\nNicole Berner, Associate General Counsel, Service Employees International Union
\nEmily Bloomenthal
\nSteve Bocknek
\nGeorge Brieger, Intellectual Property Attorney, New York
\nArthur Brunwasser
\nRandall Chamberlain, Immigration Lawyer
\nG. Cohen
\nRobert Feder
\nEric Fink, Elon University School of Law
\nHenry Freedman, National Center for Law and Economic Justice
\nLinda Fries
\nJoshua Geller
\nSteven Gerber
\nOren Heiman, Managing Partner, Shiboleth LLP
\nLeslie Kane
\nRichard Kass
\nDonya Khalili, Susman Godfrey, LLP
\nEdward Labaton, Labaton Sucharow LLP
\nStuart Laurence
\nAntonia Lavine
\nBill Leavitt
\nBeryl Levine, retired judge
\nJonah Levy, Political Science, Berkeley
\nJeff Mandell
\nRafael Mandelman
\nJesse Margolin
\nGeraldine Mund, Bankruptcy Judge
\nJordan Nodel
\nOra Prochovnick, John F. Kennedy University College of Law
\nDaniel Reich
\nJonathan Reingold, Reingold Law, PLLC
\nLilah Rosenblum, Lichtman & Elliot, PC
\nElden Rosenthal, senior partner, Rosenthal Greene & Devlin, PC
\nEdan Rotenberg
\nErnest Rubenstein, Retired Partner, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
\nDavid Salem
\nMarcia Settel
\nPaul Sher
\nScott Sholder
\nRebecca Silber
\nJessica Silbey
\nJames Silk, Yale Law School
\nMark Singer, California Labor Attorney
\nAviam Soifer, William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawai’i
\nNomi Stolzenberg, Gould School of Law, University of Southern California
\nDavid Stone, Retired Partner, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
\nRachel Tiven
\nRuth White<\/strong>
\n 
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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