MK Nissim Ze'ev (Shas) said Sunday that the media campaign against repatriation of illegal workers in Israel is being coordinated by anti-Zionist groups. “I have no doubt that those who stand behind this are the mostly the leftist groups that have no interest in the state of Israel remaining a Jewish democratic state,” he told Arutz Sheva. “This is proven by the fact that they fight for the Palestinians more than the Palestinians fight for themselves... They talk about the humanitarian aspect but... those [workers] who come here do everything possible to force themselves upon the state of Israel.”

A national policy regarding immigration needs to be formulated, he said, “if we want to really preserve the national aspect of the State of Israel.” While European countries have all closed their borders to foreign laborers, he said, Israel remains the only western democracy with no clear immigration policy.

“The problem is not 1,200 or 2,500 children of foreign workers,” Ze'ev said, "but hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants that the state does not know how to deal with... We have become 'a country of all its citizens',” he said, quoting a phrase favored by anti-Zionists.

"The problem is not the Ministry of interior's problem and it is certainly not Eli Yishai's personal problem,” Ze'ev said, “it is the State of Israel's problem.” The veteran Knesset member called on the government to decide upon a national strategy on immigration.