Former Minster Eli Yishai, the head of the Yachad political party, said that the time has come for Israel to return illegal migrants from Eritrea to their homeland.
Yishai was responding to a leaked document which was sent from the Eritrean ambassador to Israel to Interior Minister Silvan Shalom. The document, which was revealed in a report by Channel 20, includes assurances by the ambassador which guarantee the freedom and safety of Eritrean citizens who return home after illegally migrating to Israel, and promises that they will not face punishment from the Eritrean government.
Yishai took the government to task for not acting on this information in an interview with Arutz Sheva.
"Unfortunately, the government and the Interior Ministry did nothing when it came to [the issue of] illegal infiltration. They think it is a wonderful thing."
He called for the government to expel the Eritrian migrants back to their homeland, "especially after we were provided with this document showing that there is no danger in Eritrea [for them]."
"It would be a scandal and a show of incompetence not to send the Eritreans out" now that Israel knows they would not be in danger, he added. "They know how to do it. They just need the will to do it."
Yishai also said that the Regulation Law should be passed. "It must be done. It pains me that the opinion of [leftist] Talia Sasson stands 100% while the opinion of the late Edmond Levy [that Israel has the right to Judea and Samaria] does not."
"If the Regulation Law is not passed, then not only Amona [will be destroyed], which is a scandal, but tens of thousands of families from Judea and Samaria will be expelled." he said.