Bill to deport Eritrean migrants who back regime passes preliminary Knesset reading

A bill that would deport Eritrean migrants who support their nation’s regime passes a preliminary reading in the Knesset plenum 51-0. The bill aims to grant the interior minister the authority to expel Eritrean migrants who express support for their home country’s ruling government, since they ostensibly have no reason to be seeking asylum in Israel.

Various Israeli governments have taken a series of measures — some of which were blocked by the courts — to encourage the migrants, many of whom are seeking asylum due to war and oppression in their home country, to leave. There are roughly 20,000 Eritreans living in Israel.

There have been repeated clashes between pro- and anti-regime migrants. Last August, two men were killed during a massive street brawl between the two sides in Tel Aviv. In September 2023, at least 170 people were hurt — including police officers — in major clashes between the groups in the city.

“I visited South Tel Aviv this week and was exposed to the chaos that is taking place there, and the main perpetrators of crime are the Eritrean regime-supporting infiltrators,” Yisrael Beytenu MK Yulia Malinovsky, one of the bill’s sponsors, says in a statement. She calls the bill “the first step toward restoring security and peace to the residents of south Tel Aviv.”

Regime supporters “are here as asylum seekers but at the same time support the regime and therefore are not in danger in their country and can be returned to their homeland,” she asserts.