Interior Minister Eli Yishai said Thursday that if Israel makes it a rule to allow the children of illegal foreign workers to stay, tens and hundred of thousands will come. Interviewed by Kol Yisrael government radio, the Shas party chairman said the children should not be used as human shields and that schools should not be used as cities of refuge. He did not say if he would accept the conclusions of the inter-office committee on the children of illegal foreign workers.
The group "Israeli children" and an aid group for foreign workers said Yishai was avoiding the matter of the fate of 1,200 children of foreign workers.