Israel Minister Defends Border Fence — by Pointing to Migrants Who Died at Sea
In the wake of the drowning death of hundreds of migrants from Libya trying to reach Italy, an Israeli government minister justified his country’s building of a fence to keep out migrants.
Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz in a post Monday on his Facebook page, called the deaths a “tragedy that shocks all humanity,” then added, “Look how right was the government’s policy to build a fence on the border with Gaza that blocks the way of migrant workers from Africa from entering Israel.”
Israel in 2012 built a fence on its border with Egypt and added sophisticated surveillance equipment to stem the influx of migrants from Eritrea and the Sudan, often hundreds per month.
Neither the Israeli government, nor the prime minister or president, had issued a statement by Monday evening on Sunday’s tragedy at sea, when a boatload of migrants sank off the coast of Libya, killing as many as 700. Nearly 3,200 migrants died on the same crossing route in 2014, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing figures from the International Organization for Migration.
Approximately 50,000 Africans who entered Israel through Egypt live in Israel, which is bound by international treaties to let them stay while they have United Nations refugee status. Most are economic migrants seeking a place to make a better life for themselves. Hundreds have been held in a detention center, while thousands given temporary visas live in impoverished parts of Israel.
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
