After Court Decision, Protesters Gather Outside Homes of State Attorney, Court Justice

With the chagim over, it’s back to business as usual for protesters, and hundreds came out on Motzoei Shabbos to both Petach Tikvah and north Tel Aviv – to demonstrate against State Attorney Avichai Mandelblit, and incoming High Court Chief Justice Esther Hayut.

Hundreds of protesters again gathered outside Mandelblit’s Petach Tikvah home to demand that he pursue investigations on corruption charges against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu more aggressively. The demonstrations have been going on for nearly a year, and protesters received extra encouragement after a High Court decision last week that police had no right to place limits on the protests. The court said that police could not demand that protesters take out a permit to protest, and that they could not impose limitations on the number of protesters, or require that they remain a certain distance from Mandelblit’s house – conditions police tried to impose after neighbors in the residential neighborhood complained about the disturbances caused by the Motzoei Shabbos protests.

Meanwhile, protesters from south Tel Aviv demonstrated outside the north Tel Aviv home of Hayut. Protesters charged the court with failing to defend the rights of Israelis and giving preference to illegal workers. “It’s time to put an end to the dictatorship of the High Court,” protesters chanted. “The court ignores us but proclaims the rights of illegal immigrants. This protest is part of our demands for human rights for residents of south Tel Aviv,” said Shefi Paz, a longtime activist against what she called the “takeover” of south Tel Aviv by migrants.

In August, the High Court ruled that the state can recruit migrants to be voluntarily deported, presumably by paying them off. In addition, the court ruled that the state could keep migrants in the Saharonim camp in southern Israel, where police have been sending the migrants, for no more than 60 days. Residents said that the court had essentially given the migrants a “free ticket” to remain in Israel, since the standard of living here and the job opportunities they could take advantage of were greater than in any African country that would be willing to accept them.

Most of the illegal migrants to Israel are from South Sudan and Eritrea, and most have claimed the status of political refugees. Under international law, Israel cannot deport political refugees back to their own country, but they do need to be certified as refugees by Israeli authorities. The government contends that most of the migrants are here to work, not for political asylum, but with a backlog of years in cases to decide whether claims of political asylum are accurate, the illegals effectively are able to stay and work in Israel without a decision being made on their status.

Last year, the government worked out an arrangement with an unnamed African country to accept Eritean and South Sudanese migrants from Israel. That country promised to accept the migrants and examine their claims of refugee status, and provide them with employment. The deal was challenged by groups advocating on behalf of the migrants. Many of the migrants have settled in south Tel Aviv, where Israelis say they have taken over the streets and institutions – imposing a reign of fear on residents and bringing crime and disease into the neighborhood.