Gilad Erdan
Gilad ErdanYonatan Sindel/Flash90

Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan said that he is “deeply saddened” by the High Court verdict on the Infiltrators' Law, “which delivers a serious blow to the state's attempt to prevent illegal infiltrators from settling into Israel's cities.”

“The 20-month detainment period at Holot was set after an in-depth thinking process with the Attorney General and his staff, and after all arrangements were made, on the one hand, for allowing the infiltrators at the Holot facility to leave it and move freely during the day, and on the other hand create a period of detainment that will create an incentive for them to return to their countries of origin and not settle in the cities and neighborhoods,” Erdan protested, noting that the infiltrators bring with them “social problems and harsh security risks.”

“The High Court has not only shortened the period of staying in Holot to one that will not create an incentive to leave the country,” he added, “it is currently also postponing the implementation of the arrangement” for infiltrators to leave Israel to countries that are not their countries of origin."

"In determining that the 12-month period is 'a more proper' period that 20 months, and that it expresses the required mercy for the infiltrators (but ignores the proper mercy toward the suffering of the residents of the neighborhoods), the High Court has placed itself as a 'super-legislator' that sets detailed arrangements and in this situation, the Knesset has no choice but to pass the Override Clause that will allow it to retain its status as the legislative body,” Erdan argued.

MK Bezalel Smotrich (Jewish Home) also harshly criticized the High Court’s ruling. "I regret that I have to pour cold water on the excitement of my colleagues from the Right,” Smotrich said Tuesday. “This is a delusional verdict that exposes the lack of logic, not to say ridiculousness, in the High Court's judicial activism.”

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that he was “pleased with the fact that the state's basic position – that illegal infiltration of labor immigrants into Israel cannot be tolerated – was accepted by the High Court, and that the court has allowed the incarceration of immigrants for achieving the required deterrence.”

Minister Miri Regev (Likud) expressed satisfaction with the verdict, as did MK Nisan Slomiansky (Jewish Home).