Knesset discusses infiltrators
Knesset discusses infiltratorsHezki Baruch

The Knesset's Ministry of Internal Affairs on Wednesday morning discussed the illegal infiltrators who are taking over southern Tel Aviv.

Participating in the discussion was Interior Minister Aryeh Deri (Shas).

"I'm still traumatized by my last trip to south Tel Aviv," Deri said. "Seeing something is so much more powerful than simply hearing about it."

"Everything there has changed, it's a different country entirely. There are two different countries separated by about three minutes. It's unbelievable.

"The infiltrators feel secure there, they see us as guests, as if we're bothering them. I was the stranger there. There's no way to argue with the original residents who claim their neighborhood was stolen from them.

"In 2016, sixteen infiltrators entered the country, and none have arrived in 2017. In fact, 5,000 left.

"Israel is not capable of absorbing infiltrators looking for work. Other than a very few from Darfur, most of these infiltrators are looking for work, not refugees, and we need to send them back to their homelands.

"Building a security fence saved the State of Israel. Not everything that the government wants to do, can it do through the judicial system and the Supreme Court. We need to understand that and work with it.

"Today there are 39,000 North African infiltrators in Israel, not counting children. There are 18,000 people who work as assistants to the elderly or disabled, who need to be returned to their homelands. There are another 79,000 who arrived on tourist visas, overstayed illegally, and did not return to their homelands - most of them from Georgia and the Ukraine."

One of the residents of southern Tel Aviv shouted, "I am asking the left, you support two states for two nations in order to allow Israel to remain a Jewish and democratic state - how do you legitimize these infiltrators, are they Jews? How do you allow 13-year-old girls to be raped by infiltrators?"

"Where are all the leftist politicians who are so sweet and so concerned about women? Women are raped there, but you don't care. Why don't you go there? Why are these girls invisible to you?"

Left-wing activist Sheffi Paz said, "In the past six months, I've been hearing so many contradictory things. Everyone is lying to us. The government is lying to us. I had so much hope for this government, and everyone is lying to us. I'm sick of it."

"The Committee will request Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud) and ask him to increase the number of police officers deployed in southern Tel Aviv," MK David Amsalem (Likud) said.

"We will turn to the Finance Minister and ask him to increase the Interior Ministry's budget. 130 people are not enough to deal with the issue. We need to have a tactical response, but the problem is very complex and the Interior Ministry can only solve part of it.

"Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu needs to be leading the fight. The Committee will ask him to hold Cabinet discussion on the matter, and to break Israel's policy into doable tasks.

"If we do not solve this issue, it will only become worse, and we will find ourselves dealing with 200,000 people instead of 40,000."