Rights group: Israeli govt must let migrants work

The Israeli government must stop incitement against asylum seekers and take responsibility for their welfare, an Israeli human rights group Friday. "Stop pushing the asylum seekers to desperation and crime, and let them work," the Association for Civil Rights in Israel said. "Our Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior are not taking responsibility. They prefer inciting and issuing empty promises they have no intention of keeping to doing the right thing." The Israeli government must allocate resources to give migrants the security and welfare they deserve, ACRI said. The group criticized the proposed policy of deporting migrants, noting that the vast majority of asylum seekers are Eritrean and would likely face imprisonment or torture if they were forced to return. "If the government decides to expel them, Israel will be known in the world as a country that sends people to places where they are endangered," the group said. The policy of imprisoning asylum seekers will not change anything and the construction of a large detention center to hold migrants is a waste of public funds, it added. On Wednesday, over 1,000 people protested in Tel Aviv calling for African migrants to be deported in a rampage that an Israeli broadcaster dubbed a "pogrom." The recent protest is the latest escalation in growing tension between migrants and locals in Israel. In early May, two firebombs were thrown at the south Tel Aviv home of African residents. In late April, firebombs were thrown at a kindergarten and apartments used by the African community. A 20-year-old Israeli resident of the neighborhood was questioned by police about the attacks. Fleeing poverty, fighting and authoritarian rule, some 60,000 Africans have crossed illegally into Israel through the relatively porous desert border with Egypt in recent years. Israel says most of the migrants come seeking work rather than refuge, but this has been challenged by UN humanitarian agencies and civil rights groups.