LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE !!! The people decided long ago to get rid of these illegal immigrants ,but as always there are a few politician that will always do aginst the people.

They are illegal - deport criminals

Israel doesn't have to do every stupid thing the Europeans, Scandinavians and America does. While the gov't of these countries will condemn Israel while their citizens are suffering.

BE SWIFT AND IMMEDIATE! When 60,000 migrants take jobs, from where will they take jobs? There are not 100, but many more and the jobs will come at the cost of Israeli workers. Don't Israelis have it hard enough, without giving us competition for low paying jobs? Even if the public decides, does it mean that infiltrating Israeli illegally will be rewarded with citizenship and benefits as an Israeli receives? What crap. Many let the Israelis who are most affected by the migrants decide, like S. Tel Aviv and Eilat, the other places they are found sleeping outside and killing property value,scaring residents and bringing crime. Laws exist..entering Israel ILLEGALLY is ILLEGAL...nothing to vote on!

If Israel has been able to absorb thousands of Jews all through its history, it should be able to absorb those 60000 immigrants too... Why suddenly there would be a need of a referendum?

well thought out and written, i hope one day soon, that Israel has leaders that actually are responsive to the needs of their constituency and not to the demands of outsiders dislike israel

The author here is so right! The Israeli peope should decide whether they want hundrads of illeagal immigrants or not. It's the governement responsibility to do a referendum. It will show that all of them should be deported as they are not jews. unless they are in a real danger going back home.

As usual you seem unaware of the fact that this is the national homeland for the Jews, so obviously Israel would absorb Jews into our midst. Illegal moslem immigrants are just not in the same category!

Last year the Tel Aviv Hypocrites (TAH) portrayed themselves as the DEFENDERS of rights for THE ILLEGAL INFILTRATORS for as long as they were in the southern areas of the city, not the elite northern areas. Now the TAH are talking differently.

...making every effort their children get the best education, but not really caring two generations down the line. Israel in 50 years will be tarred just like the US today. No feathers this round.

We (the People) need to be cautious before we condemn all and everybody out of hand. There are different groups - the Refugees who have genuine fear of return and the Migrant Workers who are here for an opportunity to better themselves Within the last group we MUST include the thousands of Filipinos and Thais etc who increase in number and apparently we are doing also nothing about. If we are going to deport Africans and their kids we must deport the Asians and their kids I have no issue with either being shown the door but one group has no more right than the other

First: there is a difference between entering legally with a valid visa, and jumping over a fence in the middle of the night. Second: most countries =do= judge applicants on their merits when deciding who is "needed". Majority of the Filipinits are well educated before they got here, and come from a culture which doesn't swim in genocidal civil wars!

The same referendum should be done in 1947. People in Palestine should decide how to handle immigrants.

IF a Filipino is now working illegally then whether they can write,spell or add up is an irrelevance because they have broken the law and their agreements and visa arrangements. The man or woman who is a genuine refugee is not obliged (as far as I know) to have to be able to read or write their only requirement is to seek genuine refuge in a state willing to take them I personally see no difference between the illegal migrant from Africa or the Asian who is now here illegally - both are illegal

The referendum on the Golan & Jerusalem was a complete farce and is nothing more than an excuse to make it easier for them to give away these places. Some people might be willing to give up Jerusalem to the palestnians but not willing to give up the Golan whilst some might want to keep Jerusalem but would be willing to give up Jerusalem. This referendum puts treats both areas which are connected to different conflicts into the same boat so if your willing to vote in favour of giving up one but not the other if you vote yes then the government considers it as a mandate to give up both and if anybody objects they can say we had a referendum on it. Its an example of Israeli democracy at its worst and its rigged in favor of the land for peace camp. As for the idea of a referendum on how to deal with the illegals that is not an issue that is meant for a referendum its the sort of thing governments are elected to deal with and in the cases of official refugees there are international laws which need to be taken into account which a referendum cannot do.

by referendum and get rid of the Kenesset and power hungry politicians. How about that for democracy?

When people enter a nation illegally, they are deported immediately. That is common sense. That is how virtually every other nation deals with illegal immigrants. That is also how Israel should deal with them. Deportation Now!

You might think that the people who should decide means "the population of Israel", but according to Israeli "democracy" it isn't. Aharon Barak clarified that the only one who can decide anything in Israel are "the enlightened ones" (Tsibur Naor) meaning Aharon Barak and anyone who agrees with him.

Racist !

this is a clear cut issue. people are crossing our borders illegally- some from enemy countries like Sudan! We are under NO int'l obligation to take them in as they are NOT from bordering countries and they are NOT refugees - there is NO war in Eritrea, Sierre Leone, or Nigeria! They are fleeing economic difficulty, which is a shame, but so most people in the world are living in squalor and we can't take them all in! The government should deport them ASAP back to their home countries! No discussion needed!

"Gregg". the guy who loathes being in Israel and who is doing everything in his power to destroy from within.... a member of our local fifth column., a real peach of a guy

voting game. we elected politicians to make decisions. we do not need to waste money on useless energy wasting, diverting sandbox game. grow up. learn about representative democracy and how it works.

in a techhnologically advanced nation like Israel...probably all you need to do a referendum is to have a constitution.... how about,free internet access for all the citizens...? haha

and by who-ever, it remains the biggest crisis israel will face in years to come. the iran situation will quite down, but this situation will only get worse and then the problem will be to big to handle. we see it all across the western world.

For once I agree with you! No one has a problem with saying that they shouldn't be here. The problem is when people blame all of their problems on them, especially when it's been shown that they are not the cause of the increase in crime, it just wreaks of racism and ugliness. The migrant workers make up about 8% of the workforce from the numbers I've seen and heard, and I don't know how many Israelis would do those kinds of jobs honestly. It;s the same thing that a lot of people say about illegals in California, but its kinda true I think... Anyways good article. *except for the part about the NGO's

Julie you meant to say ''illegal moslem migrants'' Yes, you are 100% correct, Israel is the Jewish homelamd for Jews & future Jewish immigrants. We are not obliged to take in thousands of migrants who have illegally crossed the border from Egypt into Israel. There are many other Arab countries where these migrants can go to. Israel cannot absorb the thousands & thousands of moslems who have run away from Sudan & Ethiopia. We dont need to have a referendum, we need our Government to deport every single illegal migrant now before we have full scale riots on our hands. Now Gregg you can call me a racist aswell which will proves to me that you havent the faintest idea of what Israel is all about.

Democracy is not only majority rule. If it were then a better definition would be mobocracy. No! Democracy is best understood as a system of governance that protects the rights of the minority against the tyranny of the majority. And since majorities constantly change this arrangement serves to protect the rights of all citizens and residents. This issue of the migrants is too complex to be determined by demagoguery and incitement such as we saw in S Tel Aviv last week.

Send them to the USA. We love having illegal aliens take over and shove their cultures down our throats whilst running amok committing crimes, spreading diseases that were long ago eradicated , draining our economy and getting rights and privileges that our own citizens don't get.