Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to deal with the country’s surging migrant crisis after mass-scale rioting between rival African gangs in Tel Aviv.
On Saturday, hundreds of migrants belonging to two opposing political factions from the north African country of Eritrea clashed with each other and attacked police trying to restore order.
“This morning we discussed the massive infiltration of illegal workers from Africa.” the prime minister said Sunday, referring to talks with his cabinet ministers. “This is a tangible threat to the character and future of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.”
“We want harsh measures against the rioters, including the immediate deportation of those who took part,” Netanyahu added. He told the ministers to present measures “for the removal of all the other illegal infiltrators.”
Israel also seeks to reinforce its border fences in order to stop illegal immigrants from entering the country. Netanyahu noted that he recently “directed that an eastern fence be built to thereby reinforce – first of all – the borders in order to ensure that we have a Jewish and democratic state.”
The Jerusalem Post reported Monday:
Development of the Negev and Galilee and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf (Otzma Yehudit) announced that he will transfer 20 million NIS from his ministry’s work in the Negev and Galilee towards dealing with migrants.“We want to bring about profound change,” he said on Monday. (…)Wasserlauf’s move follows action from his party’s leader, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who on Sunday announced a plan to propose a bill that would override the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, in order to push ahead with the deportation of the migrants.Also on Sunday, following a special government session, the Interior Ministry and the Attorney-General’s Office announced that the Eritrean rioters who had been arrested will remain in custody and that more arrests will be made.The government also announced that they will examine the cancellation of work visas for those staying in Israel illegally, and it was agreed to promote a basic immigration law. “We are asking for strong measures against the rioters, including the immediate deportation of those who participated in it,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the meeting.
Prime Minister Netanyahu also questioned the legal status of Eritrean migrants seeking asylum in Israel. “They have no claim to refugee status. They support this regime,” Netanyahu asked. “If they support the regime so much, they would do well to return to their country of origin.”
“Eritreans from both sides faced off with construction lumber, pieces of metal, rocks and at least one axe, tearing through a neighborhood of south Tel Aviv,” The Times of Israel noted. Nearly 160 people and 50 police officers were reported injured during the rioting that disrupted the Jewish Sabbath in Tel Aviv, Israel’s main commercial center.
Israel has nearly 30,000 illegal immigrants, most of them from Eritrea. “It is estimated that there are about 18,000 asylum seekers from Eritrea in Israel, most of whom arrived illegally years ago by crossing Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula,” the BBC reported.
Israel’s National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, is set to propose an initial plan to send illegal economic migrants back to their home countries. “Ben-Gvir now plans to propose a bill that would overturn part of Israel’s quasi-constitutional basic law … to press ahead with the mass deportation of migrants who entered the country illegally,” the UK broadcaster added.
While this is the first large-scale riot of its kind in Israel, such occurrences are commonplace in European countries with large African and Middle Eastern populations, such as France, Germany, and Italy.
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