Eli residents are expressing fury and frustration following an official decision to allow Arab laborers into a new building project in the town.
According to the residents, last year, they were promised that the laborers had received a one-time entry permit, but in future projects, non-Arab foreign workers would be employed. "Now there are suddenly dozens of potential terrorists just a meter from kindergartens," the residents claimed.
The residents wrote: "While the entire country has moved over to foreign labor, Eli is still letting in dozens of terrorists."
The town council stated to Arutz Sheva in response: "The authority to allow work with Arab laborers who have green (Palestinian Authority) ID cards is that of the IDF. The town council has decided not to prevent a contractor who meets the IDF's requirements from working with Arab laborers."
The council further stated that "the town of Eli is experiencing a huge construction boom, which is a true victory. Doubling Eli's size will change the reality here. The schools that we are beginning to build are a great blessing for the town, after 41 years of the town's children learning in dilapidated buildings."
The council added, "This is an opportunity to thank Governor Yisrael Ganz for a courageous joint decision to build the schools while investing unusually large resources. There is no other way to build the schools, and we do not intend to miss this opportunity."