Refugees moved from Hadera to Jerusalem
Northern city's municipality evacuates 20 Sudanese refugees who invaded orchard, lived there in poor conditions. 'We are not the State's garbage can. The refugees should be returned on planes to the place they came from,' Mayor Chaim Avitan says
Hadera Mayor Chaim Avitan ordered a bus equipped with food and water and sent the refugees to Jerusalem's Liberty Bell Park.
"Hadera is not the State's garbage can. Now one coordinated the Sudanese' arrival with the municipality, and Hadera is not prepared to absorb them."
In the beginning of the week, the municipality received reports from residents that Sudanese refugees had settled in an orchard in the city. The municipality discovered that 20 male refugees moved into the orchard.
After learning that the information he received was true, Avitan began working on an evacuation.
"When I turned to the authorities they said there was nothing to do. I did not agree, and decided to evacuate them in coordination with the municipality's legal, security and supervision departments.
"We prepared a bus equipped with water and food, arrived at the place and put the refugees on a bus which took them to the government offices. The evacuation went smoothly, without any resistance or unusual incidents," he said.
According to Avitan, Hadera absorbed many new immigrants in recent years and was "Israel's number one city in immigrant absorption."
Referring to the refugees, he added that "it is unthinkable that if the State has a problem with the refugees, it will be thrown at the city of Hadera. As part of my job I am responsible for the public's security and quality of life. Hadera is not the State's garbage can.
"And anyway, are we short of poor people in Israel that we have to deal with other poor people? We are committed to helping our poor and not those coming from abroad. The State should make a decision – put the refugees on planes and return them to the place they came from," he concluded.
