Refugees from Ethiopia (Archive)
Photo: Reuters
96 African infiltrators nabbed in Eilat
Dozens of illegal aliens enter Israel via Egyptian border, ask for food, water, after 4-day walk in desert. Mayor: They could have been terrorists
Eilat Mayor Meir Yitzhak Halevi sent an urgent letter to Defense Minister Ehud Barak
Wednesday informing him that local police caught 96 African infiltrators who entered Israel
though the Egyptian border overnight.
Going
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The infiltrators walked around Eilat, knocking on random doors asking for food and water. They looked wounded when discovered by police and were later transferred to the care of the IDF.
"Given the serious incident that occurred this morning, when dozens of illegal infiltrators entered the city of Eilat, exposing residents to violence, I turn to you and demand you act in any way fit to defend the residents of Eilat," Halevi wrote to Barak.
"Today it's illegal aliens, tomorrow it's going to be terrorists sent by Islamic movements. I plead with you once again – don't abandon the residents of my city."
Yehuda Levin, a resident of Eilat, encountered two African infiltrators on his way home around 1:30 am. He said they seemed exhausted and injured, laying on the floor of a building.
"They told me in broken English that they've been walking in the desert for four days, arriving only a short while before and went searching for water and food," he described.
Levin said he gave the two men some water and then called the police. To his surprise he was told the police is not in charge of such matters.
According to the Population, Immigration and Border Authority data, over 2,600 infiltrators have entered Israeli since January 2011, with over 500 making the journey in May alone.
An Eilat city council official mentioned the mayor had sent letters just last week to the authority's director-general, Amnon Ben-Ami, and to Interior Minister Eli Yishai demanding they take care of the infiltration problem. The mayor requested an emergency government meeting to discuss the issue.
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