Yishai: Infiltrators pose an 'existential danger' to Israel

Interior minister criticizes human rights activists; National Union MK: infiltrators are "malignant cancer that spreads to the entire country."

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Yishai (photo credit: AP)
Yishai
(photo credit: AP)
African infiltrators in Israel pose an "existential" threat to the country said Interior Minister Eli Yishai at a Knesset Committee on Foreign Workers discussion on the state's handling of the increasing number of infiltrators.
"This is an existential danger to Israel, there are those who do not like to hear these things, but it's real," said Yishai, who also referred to the building of a fence along the Israeli-Egyptian border which was set to begin Monday.
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"I am happy about the start of the fence's construction, but if it takes two years to finish, there will be another 30,000 infiltrators here and it will be too late." Yishai stressed that additional measures must be taken to keep infiltrators out. "The fence must be built immediately and by one contractor, military forces must be stationed at the border fence to act as a human barrier, detention centers must be built near border crossings, and steps should be taken to prevent infiltrators from working in Israel. It must be made clear that anyone hiring an infiltrator is doing so against the law. The flood must be stopped," he said. 
Yishai also attacked human rights organizations that help those seeking asylum, saying that the situation in Eilat regarding the number of infiltrators is dire. "Whoever is not there [in Eilat], keeps on talking. I suggest those people come to Eilat for a tour, to see the tears in the eyes of residents and elderly people that are cooped up in their homes and don't dare to leave. Also in south Tel Aviv, everything is falling apart. You could just cry from what is happening there."
"I would send 20, 40 Sudanese to live in the neighborhoods of those same [human rights] activists, and then we would see what they have to say," Yishai said. "The problem exists within all aspects, and affects the political and economic situation here."
The interior minister added that "There is no difference between a migrant worker who enters by land, by air, or by sea," and claimed that only 0.01 percent of those who entered were recognized as refugees.
The committees chairman, National Union MK Yaakov Katz, called the infiltrators "a malignant cancer that spreads to the entire country."