Slippery Slope

A report published by a committee headed by Prof. Arnon Sofer and which was submitted to Minister of Interior Eli Yishai (Shas) concludes that the solution to the “infiltrator” question is a policy of ignoring the UN’s position in regards to the security situation in their countries of origin, transferring them to detention facilities in the south, and formulation of a strict policy in regards to NGOs trying to assist the asylum seekers. (Ynetnews)

(Hebrew – nrg)

A new procedure allows the state to imprison illegal immigrants indefinitely even if there is no evidence against them or the case has been closed. (Haaretz)

(Hebrew – Haaretz)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a tour of the Israel-Egypt border fence that he “has committed to the return of all the tens of thousands of African infiltrators to their countries of origin or to other countries.” (Ynetnews)

(Hebrew – Ynet)

MK Michael Ben-Ari (National Union) said during a session of the Knesset’s Committee on Foreign Workers that infiltrators (sic) are not hungry for bread but rather for women.

(Hebrew - nrg)

During a session of the Knesset’s Committee on Foreign Workers MK Danny Danon (Likud) said that all of the asylum seekers are infiltrators who should be driven out, and that those responsible for their presence in Israel are human rights organizations which lodge court petitions.

(Hebrew - Haaretz)

במהלך דיון בועדה לעניין עובדים זרים בכנסת אמר ח”כ דני דנון (ליכוד) כי של המהגרים הם מסתננים שיש לגרש, וכי האשמים בכך הם ארגוני זכויות שמגישים עתירות (הארץ).

A reserve soldier serving near the Ketziot Detention Facility claims that he has witnessed cases in which inflitrators brought to the nearby army base were abandoned in the sun without any food.  According to soldiers in the field, the commanding officer in charge of them is a young man who went home for the weekend.

(Hebrew - Black Labor)

During a tour conducted by the Knesset’s Committee for Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs in South Tel-Aviv, the committee’s chairman, MK Danny Danon (Likud) said that the “infiltrators” living in the area pose a strategic threat to the State of Israel and harm its Jewish character, and therefore should be expelled.

(Hebrew)

On a tour held by the State Control Committee along the Egyptian border, the chair of the committee, MK Yoel Hasson (Kadima) said that the government must propose a series of bills to enable return of infiltrators to their countries of origin: “This flood of 14,000 foreigners a year has already hurt Ashdod, Eilat, Arad, Beer Sheva, and south Tel Aviv. If we do not turn around in time – we will suffer a series of social, demographic, and criminal damages.”

The Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, called on the citizens of Israel “not to take the laws into their own hands’ against African refugees. According to Netanyahu, the Israeli government is “acting assertively to stop the stream of illegal infiltrators from Africa by erecting a border fence and returning the infiltrators to their own countries”. (Hebrew)

The police commissioner, Chief Inspector Dudi Cohen, said during a conference on rule of law that “the infiltrators today, in Eilat, Tel Aviv, Arad and recently also in Ashdod and Bnei Brak, are concentrated, which apart from the demographic and rising numbers aspects also worry me due to violence, property offenses and drug offenses and especially severe crimes like murder and rape”. Cohen said so even though a Knesset report (PDF) found that criminality among the refugees and immigrants is unusually low. (Hebrew)