55 of those waiting for the alliance are immigrants from Ethiopia, who with the delay in conversion is also delayed in receiving their Israeli citizenship.
Equipment for circumcision/Reuters
The Aliyah, Absorption and Diaspora Committee held a discussion today (Tuesday) against the background of the suspension of covenant procedures in government hospitals for adult converts.
A delay in performing circumcision left 98 converts stuck in the middle of a conversion procedure, a bureaucratically and emotionally complex procedure anyway.
"55 of those waiting for the alliance are immigrants from Ethiopia, for whom the delay in the process is even more significant," said Habatamo Yosef, director of the Ethiopia project in the immigration and absorption unit at the Jewish Agency.
"The immigrants from Ethiopia do not receive Israeli citizenship immediately upon their arrival in the country, and they are here on a permanent resident basis until the conversion process is completed. Any delay in the process causes them great distress."
In the committee hearing, it was revealed that the delay in the conversion process started already last year, and since then no state-funded alliances have been made.
The Ministry of Health offers the public hospitals about NIS 3,000 for a surgical procedure of circumcision for an adult.
While the hospitals find this amount unrewarding, and estimate that the real cost of the circumcision procedure is about NIS 8,000.
"Some of the converts are reservists who contribute their share to the state, and they want to join the Jewish people on the King's Road. This is another point of infuriating bureaucracy that makes it difficult for them," said the chairman of the Aliyah, Absorption and Diaspora Committee, MK Oded Porer.
"The IDF is responsible for taking care of all the needs of all its soldiers, and this is also true for the reserve soldiers.
You can't leave things hanging.
If everyone does their part, it will be significantly shorter."
More on the same topic:
Circumcision
conversion
The Ethiopian community
the knesset