04 September 2023; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Sunday that illegal migration from Africa constitutes a “real threat to the future of Israel”, calling for the preparation of a plan to expel all infiltrators from the country.
Netanyahu’s speech came via tweets on his account on the X platform, a day after he announced the formation of a special ministerial committee to consider applying measures against those he described as “rioters”, following protests organised by Eritrean asylum seekers on Saturday in Tel Aviv.
Netanyahu said that Illegal infiltration into Israel from Africa poses a real threat to Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state. Israel has stopped this threat by building the fence on its southern border, he added.
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In 2013, Tel Aviv erected a 241-kilometre-long fence on the border with Egypt, in an attempt to stop infiltration from Africa into Israel through the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula.
Netanyahu noted that the problem lies with those who actually entered before the building of the fence was completed, and there are several tens of thousands of illegal infiltrators.
He said that Israel deported 12,000 African migrants voluntarily through various incentives and procedures, and that the government tried to push more to leave, but was met with opposition from the Supreme Court.
Netanyahu added that protests held by groups of Eritreans on Saturday crossed the red line and cannot be accepted, threatening the Eritrean protesters with “strict measures”, including immediate deportation.
He called on the ministerial committee to prepare a complete and updated plan to remove all other illegal infiltrators from Israel.
