The Internal Affairs and Environment Committee, chaired by MK Yaakov Asher (United Torah Judaism), convened on Monday and voted to approve for first reading the Immediate Expulsion of Infiltrators Who Support their Country's Regime Bill, 2024.
The explanatory notes to the bill, which proposes to amend the Entry into Israel Law, state that the bill is intended to ensure the immediate expulsion of infiltrators who support the governmental administration in their country of origin, in order to protect the national security and public order in the State of Israel. A supporter of the administration is an infiltrator who has expressed direct or indirect support for the regime in his country, including a public statement of support for the administration or maintaining substantive ties with representatives of government institutions. The expulsion of the infiltrator will be done if the Minister of Interior has become convinced, in accordance with an opinion submitted to him by the director of the Population and Immigration Authority, that an infiltrator is a supporter of the administration, and after [the infiltrator] has been given an opportunity to plead his case within a certain period. If it has been determined that the infiltrator is a supporter of the administration and he has been unable to demonstrate that there is a danger to his life or liberty in his country of origin, the minister will revoke the temporary residence license issued to him and will remove him from Israel to his country of origin as soon as possible.
MK Yulia Malinovsky (Yisrael Beitenu), the bill's sponsor, said, “The problem of infiltrators has been a painful one for many years, and has not been handled well. An unexplained case was revealed in which the Eritrean embassy deposited a bail bond for Eritrean rioters. The bill was created in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior and the Minister of Interior, so as to allow the minister, after consultation with relevant officials, to expel from Israel infiltrators who are regime supporters."
Committee Chair MK Asher said that after hearing the statements made by the representatives of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Interior, as well as the statements made by asylum seekers who attended the debate, that a more exact version of the bill would be drawn up in debates for its preparation for second and third readings.
MK Matti Sarfatti Harcavi (Yesh Atid) said that a person who is an infiltrator and not a refugee should not be here, and asked whether the State of Israel was working to locate infiltrators and checking their applications for asylum. “It's possible that if we carry out some sort of orderly examination process, we will be able to distinguish between an infiltrator and a refugee. The mechanism already exists today, so there's no need for this bill," MK Sarfatti Harcavi said.
MK Gilad Kariv (Labor) said that under the auspices of this bill, supporters of the dictatorial regime in Eritrea would continue to receive immunity from the Government of Israel. He said that the outcome of this legislation would be the complete opposite, because no regime supporter would be expelled, and those who would suffer would be the opponents of the regime, who should be granted refugee status. “This bill is opposed to the procedure to which the State of Israel is committed in handling applications for asylum," said MK Kariv.
Ministry of Justice official Adv. Nadav Golani said that governmental work was currently being conducted within which the question was being examined whether Eritrean nationals who support the regime in their country of origin could be excluded from the non-expulsion policy applied to Eritrean nationals. The discussions, he said, are being conducted with the Population and Immigration Authority, the Israel Police, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice. “At this stage, we are still waiting for a professional opinion from the Foreign Ministry intended to review the situation in Eritrea and examine whether the lives of regime supporters will be in danger if they are removed to Eritrea. The State of Israel is committed to the principle of non-refoulement that exists in international law and also exists in Israeli law," said Adv. Golani.
Adv. Noam Kahan of the Population and Immigration Authority: “We're familiar with the bill. There was a large meeting in August in which the minister broached the difficulties and the need to remove supporters of the regime. Serious staff work has been done in order to advance this initiative." Adv. Kahan said that the use of the term 'infiltrator' in the bill reduced the Ministry of Interior's power because there might be Eritrean nationals who had entered Israel with a certain visa and could not be expelled because they were not defined as infiltrators. She said further that the Ministry of Interior was also waiting for the opinion of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
An asylum seeker from Eritrea said, “Many racist things have been said here, from a nation that has been persecuted itself. It's difficult for me to listen to the nasty things that have been said about us. The bill doesn't give me protection as an asylum seeker. I have no problem with getting rid of the regime supporters, but this bill gives me no protection. Tomorrow the police could say about me that I'm a regime supporter and I will be expelled."
The Hotline for Refugees and Migrants stated that everyone understands that there are persecutors and people being persecuted, but no one was talking about how to protect those who are persecuted. Shahar Mandil [of ASSAF—Aid Organization for Refugees and Asylum Seekers] said that the mechanism for checking who is an asylum seeker exists but is not implemented, so the bill is unnecessary.
Adv. Tomer Warsha of the Israel Bar Association said that there was no doubt that those who were not entitled to protection should be expelled. He stated, “There is collective protection for Eritrea and Sudan, but there are also applications for asylum. A person who applies for asylum and is rejected still enjoys collective protection. As of today, no one with an open asylum application can be expelled. There are many fictitious asylum applications, and the team that checks them is understaffed. As of now, the collective protection is a Ministry of Interior policy that can easily be changed. A change can be made stipulating that anyone who supports the regime will not receive collective protection."
