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Bill to Limit Asylum Seekers' Detention Passes Initial Knesset Vote
Knesset plenary session on path to approve bill which shortens legal detention at the Holot facility to one year.
Jonathan Lis Feb 02, 2016 10:27 AM
A bill shortening the legal detainment of asylum seekers in the Holot facility of southern Israel to one year passed an initial vote early Tuesday morning with 20 in favor and 12 against in a plenary Knesset session.
The new bill is the result of the Supreme Court's decision to repeal the current law that allows for 20 months' detainment.
The Knesset must pass the bill in two more votes within one week, before the expiration of the current law, which would prevent further use of Holot for the detainment of asylum seekers.
Mk Michal Rozin (Meretz), who previously served as head of the Committee on Foreign Workers, sharply condemned the government's decision to push for the new bill.
"Every time you present a bill on the subject, the Supreme Court tells you to look at the essence and not on the technical matter of a number of months," said Rozin. "No country imprisons refugees who reach it. The situation at Holot is unacceptable."
Meretz Chair Zehava Galon also condemned the bill as a "humanitarian crime and moral disgrace."
Most of those detained in Holot are African's who made it to Israel either as political refugees or economic migrants seeking financial opportunity.
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan presented the text of the bill in place of Interior Minister Aryeh Dery who originally drafted the new bill. Dery stormed out of the Knesset session before the vote in anger over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's apparent attempts to take credit for two other initiatives pushed by Dery.
On Monday, Netanyahu posted to his twitter account that the cost of public transit had been reduced by 14%, an initiative originally launched by Dery. Netanyahu's post however, didn't mention the interior minister and took credit for the initiative by saying "we".
On Sunday, Dery's name was also omitted in an announcement by Netanyahu on developments in an initiative that Dery had pushed during his time as minister of the economy.
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Law on 'infiltrators' passes first reading
Knesset gives first approval to reducing illegal immigrants' time in holding facilities from 20 months to 12.
By Arutz Sheva Staff
First Publish: 2/2/2016, 7:57 AM
The Knesset Assembly has approved the first reading of the Law to Prevent Infiltration (Offenses and Jurisdiction) (Amendment Number 5 and Temporary Order), 2016.
The bill calls for a temporarily rule that illegal immigrants would be placed in a holding facility for no more than 12 months, a reduction from the current period of up to 20 months that was rejected by the Supreme Court.
The explanatory notes to the bill explain that the Court found it unconstitutional to hold illegal immigrants for so long, as it seriously and disproportionately harms their legal rights to freedom and respect. The court also rejected section four of the previous law, which called for creating a holding center, on the same grounds.
Following the ruling, the government began putting together a more proportionate replacement in order to judge its effectiveness in dealing with the phenomenon of illegal immigration and its effects.
Twenty members of the Knesset supported the bill in its first reading, while 12 opposed. It will now be sent to the Interior Committee for treatment.
MK Michal Rozin (Meretz) criticized the proposal, saying, "Every time that you bring a bill dealing with the subject, the Supreme Court tells you to look at the substance and not at the technical issue of how many months. No country puts refugees into prisons. The situation in Holot in unbearable."
The head of Rozin's party, Zehava Galon, called the bill a "disgrace" and added: "The Holot facility must be closed. You are talking about the situation in southern Tel Aviv, and who is responsible for the situation there if not the government that wanted to pit one population against another? This law is a humanitarian crime and an ethical disgrace."
MK David Bitan (Likud) had harsh words in response to MK Galon.
"Enough with this self-righteousness. We aren't against refugees but it's time to deal with the problem. We need to solve the problem of the residents of southern Tel Aviv."
Received on Tue Feb 02 2016 - 15:46:00 EST