Netanyahu on Egypt-Israel border
Netanyahu on Egypt-Israel borderAmos Ben Gershom/GPO

Prime Minister Binyamin touted the success of Israel’s security barrier on its border with Egypt Thursday, calling the fence a “phenomenal” success, arguing its construction “saved” the State of Israel.

The Prime Minister toured the Israel-Egypt border Thursday, and met with southern front army commanders, who provided updates regarding Israel’s security situation in the area. Netanyahu called Israel’s security fence on the border with Egypt a “phenomenal” success in stopping illegal immigration into Israel from eastern Africa.

“I was just updated now by officers in the field, here along the Sinai frontier. This fence saved the State of Israel as a Jewish, democratic state. This fence has been a phenomenal success. It completely stopped the hundreds of thousands of African infiltrators, as well as the entry of terrorists into Israel from the Sinai. Zero. That is a huge success, and I would say, one even of international dimensions – no other state has had this kind of success.”

“Of course this saved the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.”

Israel built the barrier on the border with Sinai from 2010 to 2013, following a massive wave of illegal immigration from east Africa into Israel, via Sinai.

Following modifications to the fence in 2014, illegal immigration plummeted, falling from an average of roughly 10,000 a year to just over a dozen in 2016, with zero illegal entries in 2017.