….saying they are “a threat to the long-term viability of the Jewish state.” Yes, they are! I don’t know why people don’t get this point. Mass migration will eventually bring down a country. It will happen more quickly in small countries like Israel or some European countries and more slowly in the US, but it will happen.
Here is my big question—-what is the third country to which these tens of thousands will be sent?
***Update June 8th*** Here is a report that says they will be deported to an African country.
We have already seen the erosion of the concept of legitimate refugee protection as in the case of Malta* where the US State Department took off Malta’s hands thousands of illegal (economic) migrants from Africa, transformed them into refugees and sent them to America.
I sure hope Obama didn’t make some deal when he visited Israel and that America is the third country they have in mind!
Here is the story from RT.com:
Photo: Reuters
Israel plans to expel thousands of African refugees to an unidentified third country, according to a court document obtained Monday, in an initiative that has provoked concerns from human rights groups.
The program is an effort to confront one of Israel’s more persistent problems: What to do with some 60,000 African migrants – the majority from Eritrea and Sudan – who have illegally crossed the border into Israel from Egypt over the past eight years.
During a Supreme Court hearing on Sunday that questioned the legality of detaining asylum-seekers who entered Israel secretly, a government attorney said an agreement to resettle “infiltrators from Eritrea” had been reached with an unidentified third country, according to Reuters.
“There is an arrangement with one country, which will be an end-destination and not a transit point,” the lawyer said, according to a transcript provided by the Justice Ministry on Monday.
There are an estimated 35,000 Eritreans currently living illegally in Israel, but deporting them to their homeland, a state accused of torture last year by the UN human rights chief, is difficult under international law.
Resettling the migrants in another country could also raise legal issues. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says resettlement can only be considered once refugee status has been granted – which Israel has not done – although exceptions can be made.
Under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, states are obligated not to send refugees to countries where they would face physical or political danger. It is unclear whether that requires the convention’s signatories, of which Israel is one, to monitor the refugees indefinitely after they are deported.
Making sure this won’t happen again, Israel builds a border fence!
While the fate of the migrants remains uncertain, Israel has taken rather dramatic steps to stem the influx in illegal immigration. Over the past year, Israel has constructed a barrier along its border with Egypt that has dramatically reduced the number of illegal arrivals. Israel is also incarcerating individuals who attempt to cross into the country while authorities determine whether they are eligible for refugee status.
He is right!
Israel’s plan to deport many of the estimated 60,000 migrants began in earnest in July of last year, when Netanyahu said the African migrants “are seen by many Israelis as a law and order issue and even a threat to the long-term viability of the Jewish state.”
So, what is the third country (one acceptable to the UN)?
For more on the problems Israel is having with illegal migrants, visit our category entitled ‘Israel and refugees.’
* For the Malta policy started under the Bush State Department, go here for dozens of posts on the topic.