With the baby in frozen Oregon: Parents of surrogate children stuck abroad over Foreign Ministry sanctions

State Department workers, who are on strike because of their low wages, do not issue passports for babies born abroad. "Our dream has become a nightmare," say spouses who are prevented from returning home from the U.S.

Deputy Foreign Minister: The struggle is justified, but not at the expense of the citizens

Yoav Itiel

19/01/2022

Wednesday, 19 January, 2022, 17:23 Updated: 17:51

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"We realized we were sandals here."

Nir Hermet and Itai Cohen with the three-week-old Jordan (Photo: courtesy of those photographed)

Israeli parents of babies born in the process of surrogacy are stuck in a number of countries around the world with the infants because of sanctions by Foreign Ministry employees.

The new parents are among the most severely affected by the sanctions of the workers who started the sanctions because of their low wages.

As part of the sanctions, consulate employees refuse to issue Israeli passports, travel documents or other permits that will allow them to enter the country with their parents.

Nir Hermet (44), an art curator and Itai Cohen (43), a chemical engineer, are a couple from Tel Aviv who have been waiting for about a month to return to Israel from the United States. , The three-week-old baby born there in their presence.

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"We came to lovingly accept a baby born to our surrogate, but these days our biggest dream is turning into a nightmare," Nir and Itai told Walla! When he is already fit to fly, and after the great economic and emotional efforts, he and the children are prevented from coming back and receiving a hug from grandma and grandpa. We miss and want very much to return home. We feel our country has sent us to a discriminatory Man - start a family. "

They were supposed to get the transit certificate for Jordan in California, at the consulate in San Francisco.

"We arranged a meeting to issue a travel document for the baby without which he could not fly," they said.

"When the sanctions began, we realized that the meeting was canceled and that we were sandaled here," they added.

They emphasize that they are "in favor of workers' rights, and we cherish the work of Foreign Ministry employees. We would like to contact Minister Lapid to intervene in the crisis and do everything possible to end this conflict, remember our need for Foreign Ministry staff and their possibility to bring us home." .

Want to go back to getting a hug from grandparents.

The children of Nir Hermet and Itai Cohen (Photo: courtesy of those photographed)

In the meantime, they say, they are "stuck in a freezing Oregon, waiting for something to move. Every week here a large sum of money costs, in addition to the rest of the expenses. It is a complex and difficult situation, and the feeling of this blasting is very difficult."

The Foreign Ministry Workers' Committee said in response that the workers "are fighting for the existence and survival of the Israeli Foreign Service. This is a critical struggle for the ministry's future and the preservation of the professional manpower that makes it up, without which a functioning foreign service cannot be held." According to the committee, sanctions are the only tool available to them as a means to fight for their rights. The committee says that the crisis can and should be resolved today. "We call for the prompt intervention of Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, who promised to correct. His decisive and swift intervention will bring an end to the crisis, which is only getting worse," they said at the end.

Deputy Foreign Minister Idan Roll told Walla !: "The justified struggle of Foreign Ministry employees cannot come at the expense of Israeli citizens. We have agreed with the Consular Department that despite the sanctions, exceptional cases requiring humanitarian assistance will be addressed through an exceptions committee operated by the Consular Division."

The Foreign Ministry and the Foreign Minister's Office chose not to respond to the committee's sanctions.

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