Israel Panel Aims To Boot African Immigrants
Interior Minister Eli Yishai announced Tuesday the formation of a special task force to deal with African migrant workers in Israel, saying it will “make sure Israel is free of infiltrators.”
During the past few days, Yishai has been holding consultations with officials in the military, police, and the legal system, and studying different aspects of the issue. “I’ve placed the subject at the top of my priorities for the upcoming year, and I plan to do everything I can to resolve Israel’s infiltrator problem.”
The team has been assigned with the task of coming up with ways to stop the influx of African migrants, as well as expelling those illegally residing in Israel. Due to the urgency of the issue, Yishai assigned the task force a two-month deadline to present him with their findings. He plans to present these at an emergency government meeting.
The task force will be headed by Professor Arnon Soffer, a professor of geography and environmental studies and one of the founders of Haifa University. Soffer is a natural choice for Yishai as research he published in 2009 states that most African migrants in Israel are migrant workers, not refugees, views congruent with Yishai’s own.
For more, go to Haaretz.com
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
