Netanyahu Finds a Way to Keep Deporting Illegal Immigrants - Israel Today

Netanyahu Finds a Way to Keep Deporting Illegal Immigrants

Wednesday, October 25, 2017 |  Israel Today Staff

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It's not only America and Europe that have illegal immigration problems.

Israel is a small state with limited resources, and it's primary mission is to provide safe haven to all Jews who wish to immigrate.

But Israel's stunning economic success means many from poorer African nations also want in on the action.

In recent years, tens of thousands of Africans have streamed across Israel's southern border. Some were genuine refugees fleeing life-threatening situations. But most were economic migrants whom a majority of Israelis see as a strategic threat to the Jewish state's continued success and even survival.

Israel has used a "carrot-and-stick" approach to handling the problem until now.

Illegal migrants who enter Israel without applying for and receiving

refugee status–in other words, economic migrants–are placed in detention centers and offered $3,500 to leave the country voluntarily.

The hope is that either the large one-time paycheck and/or the prospect of long months in detention will compel most to return home. And, indeed, some 15,000 such migrants have done so.

But some are more determined, refusing the cash and waiting out the detention. Israel's courts allow the government to keep the infiltrators in detention for a maximum of 12 months.

Forced deportation was off the table, until now.

Israel Hayom reports that during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent visit to UN Headquarters in New York, he took the opportunity to meet with many African leaders and sign new diplomatic agreements regarding migrants from their countries.

The agreements enable Netanyahu's government to circumvent a recent Supreme Court ruling and to forcibly deport illegal immigrants as a last resort.

Many antagonists, including the radical left in Israel, have used this issue to smear the Jewish state.

But it must be stressed that Israel does provide refugee status to African migrants who fled life-threatening situations, such as many from Sudan.

What Israel cannot and will not tolerate is illegal infiltration by those looking to leech off of its taxpayers. It simply doesn't have the resources to do so and continue to provide a prosperous safe haven for the Jewish people.

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