- Moderator
- #1
Complicated problem for Israel. Should they? Should they not? What about Abbas' move? The Palestinian refugees of the Syrian civil war are among the worst treated. And of course they are stateless.
On the other hand Israel is a small country in the middle of a large and complex conflict. The United States is a large and wealthy country. We could be taking a lot more than a couple of thousand.
Israel must welcome Syrian refugees: Labour's Herzog
On the other hand Israel is a small country in the middle of a large and complex conflict. The United States is a large and wealthy country. We could be taking a lot more than a couple of thousand.
Israel must welcome Syrian refugees: Labour's Herzog
Jerusalem (AFP) - Opposition Labour party leader Isaac Herzog called Saturday for Israel to take in Syrian refugees, recalling the plight of Jews who sought refuge from past conflicts.
"Our people has experienced first-hand the silence of the world and cannot be indifferent in the face of the murder and massacre raging in Syria," Herzog posted on his Facebook page.
Speaking at a panel discussion in Tel Aviv, he called on the government "to act toward receiving refugees from the war in Syria, in addition to the humanitarian efforts it is already making."
There is already hostility in Israel toward asylum-seekers from Africa and a concerted government effort to repatriate them.
Official figures show there are 45,000 illegal immigrants in the Jewish state, almost all from Eritrea and Sudan.
Most of those who are not in detention centres live in poor areas on the south side of Tel Aviv, where there have been several protests against them.
Someone identifying himself as Sefi Kamrani wrote on Herzog's Facebook page: "Take all the refugees into your home if you're so worried about them. I'd like to see you live just one week in south Tel Aviv."
Meanwhile, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas called on the United Nations Saturday to press Israel to allow Palestinians from refugee camps in Syria to take shelter in the Palestinian territories, whose external borders are controlled by the Jewish state.