Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann proposed Tuesday that Israel accept refugees from Darfur, stating that Israel must adhere to the principles of "biblical compassion."

"Israel must hold talks with Europe over how many refugees they are willing to accept and how many we are willing to take," Friendmann said.

Speaking at a convention of the Israel Bar Association in Eilat, Friedmann said that "this is a question that is currently before the state of Israel, and there is a direct line with the what occurred 3,000 years ago and more, at the time of the Exodus from Egypt."

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According to Friedmann, "There are instructions in the Torah which teach about compassion, and in dimensions which we do not see in the law of other peoples. The emphasis is on why there is a need for compassion, the source of this biblical compassion."

"The question that Israel must ask itself is, to what extent is it within that pathway of compassion?"

The justice minister also addressed the issue of the situation of foreign workers in Israel. "We have problems with foreign workers, and problems with the children of foreign workers. We must ask ourselves if we are acting not in the spirit of the modern world, but in the spirit written in the Bible.

"Today, we have refugees coming from Darfur. It is clear that Israel cannot accept all of the refugees from Africa, but it must say that we have a part in taking care of these people."