Netanyahu: Migrant workers risk Israel's Jewish character
PM's comments come as police say Egypt gang abducted Africans for ransom on Israel border.
By Haaretz Service, Liel Kyzer and Oran Koren Tags: Benjamin Netanyahu Egypt Israel newsMigrant workers infiltrating through the border with Egypt are jeopardizing Israel's Jewish and democratic nature, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday, adding that those workers were also causing salaries in the country to drop to "third world" rates.
Earlier this month, Netanyahu reportedly ordered the construction of a fence along portions of Israel's border with Egypt at a cost of NIS 1.5 billion, in an attempt to stem the infiltration of migrant workers as well as of terrorist elements into Israel.
Netanyahu's comments came just as released gag order revealed Thursday that special Israel Police investigations unit arrested an Ethiopian citizen and two Eritrean citizens suspected of collaborating with Egyptian gangs in kidnapping African refugees who tried to infiltrate the border with Israel.
The gangs allegedly extorted the families of the African citizens and asked for a ransom in exchange for their release.
A special unit has been conducting the investigation in recent months in which the gangs were discovered to be working with collaborators inside Israel.
Netanyahu, speaking earlier in front of the Manufacturers Association of Israel on Thursday, said that in addition to erecting a fence along the border with Egypt, the government would also work to encourage local employment, also within the Haredi community, and to increase enforcement against importers of illegal immigrant workers.
Netanyahu added that he would work towards having the barrier approved by the government.
"The goal is to ensure Israel's Jewish and democratic nature, the premier said, adding that while Israel would continue to welcome "refugees from war-stricken countries, we will not let thousands of foreign workers flood the country."
According to police reports on Thursday, Egyptian gangs allegedly detained African refugees who tried to cross the Sinai border into Israel and reportedly tortured their hostages and held them in poor physical conditions.
The gangs allegedly forced the hostages to contact their family members in Israel in order to get ransom money for the Africans' release and transfer into Israel.
In the end of November an Eritrean man told police that two months prior, his cousin, who was trying to cross into Israel, called him and told him that he was being held in Sinai and he would only be released for a ransom.
The police investigation found that the man who is supposed to receive the ransom money in Israel was reportedly an Eritrean citizen named Nagasi Habati. Police also uncovered that the money transfer is set to be conducted through an Ethiopian man residing in Israel named Fatawi Mahari.
Police received a similar complaint in September, where an Ethiopian claimed his cousin was being held hostage in Egypt and Mahari was again the contact for transferring the money to the abductors in Sinai. A man named Mohammad Ibrahim was also named a collaborator, and when police arrested him they found $50,000 in his home. Police later arrested Mahari and Nagasi in a Jerusalem apartment and found a sum of $100,000 in their possession.
Testimonies by other refugees who were held in Sinai also linked both Nagasi and Ibrahim as full accomplices in the extortion by the Egyptian kidnappers.
Nagasi, Ibrahim, and Mahari underwent extensive investigation by the police's special unit and an indictment was served against Nagasi Habati. All three African men were detained until the end of police proceedings.
Thousands of Africans and other migrants have come to Israel through its porous border with Egypt over the last few years, prompting the PM's decision to erect two fence segments: one near the southern city of Eilat, and another near Israel's and Egypt's barrier border with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
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Netanyahu called it right for a change! Here in the U.S. there are immigrants involved in dealing drugs, taking jobs away from our rainbow citizens, and committing crimes. Read about the cannabis stores in Los Angeles, murders, money laundering, prostitution, aggressive driving, gold scams, and just plain old bad business practices. Thanks Bini...now it's time for the U.S. to send the Israeli's back home!
Democratic implies the same rights for every inhabitant, not only citizens. Jews would have to be allowed anywhere while non-Jews would not be allowed in Israël.
What does it really means -the Israel's jewish character? That all its habitants are jews? Or it fullfill the jewish values? And what kind of values are risked because of the migrant workers? It starts to look more and more paranoidic and so far away of all modern thinking as to the human beings. Frightening - and reminds me of somebody's thinking 60 years ago in German.
Precisely at what stage in history did migration become illegal? precisely when did it become an established legal precedent to ignore historical events, such as world war, genocide and movement of people from one place to another. Assuming demographic changes occur in regions, the Middle East is also part of the ongoing processes. In order to have peace and not eternal conflict, Palestinians and Arabs must learn to live with those changes. I agree that those changes should not oppress the Arab population. That is why the only solution is an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel in which both can live together in mutual respect and peace.
Will racism be condoned because it is Israel acting as racist? Israels greatest contribution to the world is this new racist double speak, which you can utter without condemnation. Sadly, this contribution is only of use to other nations wanting to maintain their special "character".
Could it be that the Haredi will be forced to make some economic contribution to the economy if migrant workers are cut back ? It may be that work may affect their Jewish character with the consequences that they wont have so much time for dodging their responsibilities
What about the Balfour declaration which promised the Jews a homeland in Palestine? The Balfour declaration was made 1917. It was a decision made by a European power about non-European territory. It promised the Jews a homeland in Palestine on the condition that ?nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of the existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine As to how well the British kept this promise, Lord Balfour himself writes in 1919: ?The contradiction between the letter of the Covenant and the policy of the Allies is even more flagrant in the case of the independent nation of Palestine (yes it was recognized even then!) than in that of the independent nation of Syria. For in Palestine we do not propose even to go through the form of consulting the wishes of the present inhabitants of the country, though the American [King-Crane] Commission has been going through the form of asking what they are. The four great powers are committed to Zionism and Zionism, be it right or wrong, good or bad, is rooted in age-long tradition, in present needs, in future hopes, of far profounder import than the desires and prejudices of the 700,000 Arabs who now inhabit that ancient land.?
Israel can only exist when it changes to a real secular democracy like countries in the european union. A fence won't stop terrorists. Nowadays terrorists use rockets to attack Israel...
it is upsetting that the man who represents israel believes that the best way to preserve israel's democratic nature is by building walls.
"Migrant workers infiltrating through the border with Egypt are jeopardizing Israel's Jewish and democratic nature, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday" Every country tries to stop illegal immigrants entering. Fair enough. But it's the explicitly racial terms in which Israel's government expresses itself that is so shocking. It's particularly shocking that Netanyahu can get away with saying such things and that other countries continue to do business with this man.
Disgust gives me the words of this Prime Minister. In the history of Israel there was no similar announcements made. All are Liberman, everyone. Workers foreigners coming to work, to live in a society that offers them a wage for their work, and a society that exploits them, use them, and also when I humiliated. Perhaps this refers to the prime minister? Israel gives no example of democracy, and indeed, the prime minister is irresponsible, encourages violence against minorities. Where was the experience of Jewish people in the tragic moments of their history? Shame, shame ... ana
The march to a Jewish and monochromatic state continues... with Bibi, Avigdor and Yishai leading the pack... No foreigners here, there or anywhere...