“Our aim is to repatriate tens of thousands of infiltrators now in Israel to their countries of origin,” he said, adding Israel had been in contact with several African governments.
“After having been confronted by the threat of hundreds of thousands (of illegal migrants), this month not a single infiltrator has reached cities in Israel,” he said, quoted in a government statement.
“We have reached this result over the past several months, and next month we will have completed the construction of the fence on the border with the Sinai,” facing Egypt, he said.
Israel began constructing the fence in late 2010 to stem the influx of thousands of illegal migrants through the porous border, which has also been a major drug and human trafficking route into Israel.
“Now we are moving on to the next stage, the repatriation of the infiltrators already here.”
Netanyahu and Israel are also prepping for the influx of Indian Jews. 7,200 of them. The Bnei Menashe- a community of Indian Jews who are supposedly descendants of one of the 10 Lost Tribes of Israel- are headed 'home'. 50 just arrived to join some 1,700 others who have already emigrated from India, the rest will be brought to Israel soon. Living in the northern part of India (between Burma/Myanmar and Bangladesh) their story is a fascinating one. Animists and headhunters prior to converting to Christianity in the 1800s, the Tibeto-Burmans remained Christian up until 1951 when one of the Pentacostalist flock, Chalianthanga (aka Mela Chala), had a dream in which he was told by God that they should return to their pre-Christian religion (Judaism) and migrate back to their ancient homeland.
The Indians say they are the descendants of the 10 tribes who lived in the kingdom of Israel in Biblical times and who were dispersed, according to the Bible, after the invasion of the Assyrians in 721 BC.
Michael Freund of the Shavei Israel group (meaning “those who return to Israel” in Hebrew), which arranged their journey, said more than 7,000 people have sought help from the Israeli government to emigrate from India.
“The members of this tribe have never forgotten where they came from and we are excited to be able to help them come back,” he told AFP, adding that hundreds of others were expected to arrive in coming weeks.
Israel has welcomed other 'descendants' of the 10 Lost Tribes including the Ethiopian Jews, aka Beta Israel.
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