Yishai with Netanyahu
Photo: Flash 90
Yishai objects to new immigration law
Interior minister says law defining rights of refugees, migrant workers conflicts with government policy
Interior Minister Eli Yishai sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Wednesday
in which he objected to the latest draft of a new immigration law because, he says, it conflicts with the government's stance on illegal workers.
The new law was mentioned by Netanyahu at the recent Cabinet meeting. Its aim is to define the rights of foreign workers in Israel as well as those of refugees seeking to settle in Israel, following the recent wave of infiltrations on the Egyptian border. Netanyahu also declared that a ministerial committee would be put in charge of the issue.
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"The draft of the bill allows for a significant breach in immigration policy currently applied in Israel, in total contrast with government decisions," Yishai wrote.
"It allows for the laundering of the status of foreign workers and their families in Israel, the extension of the definition of asylum-seekers and the legal anchoring of their status, and the indirect extension of the Right of Return Law by adding family members of immigrants. This constitutes a violation of the status quo."
Yishai has developed a reputation of an avid objector to foreign workers, though data published by the Hotline for Migrant Workers shows that more work permits were issued to foreigners when Yishai was Industry, Trade, and Labor Minister than at any other time in Israel's history. He alone is responsible for the legalization of the status of more than half a million migrant workers in Israel.
In his letter, Yishai accuses the prime minister of deceiving him by not informing him of the bill while it was being drafted. He also suggested that rather than creating a new law, the existing law should be tweaked by a small forum of ministers.
"As a minister in charge of immigration in Israel I want to object to this conduct. I want to announce that if the draft of the bill as it was distributed is not removed from the ministers' agenda, I will not approve it as minister of the interior," he concluded.
