JERUSALEM, May 22 (Xinhua) -- African migrants residing in south Tel Aviv pose a severe health risk, warn senior Israeli physicians.
Dozens of illegal migrants arrive each day at hospital emergency rooms in the greater Tel Aviv area, where they are diagnosed with tuberculosis, measles, chicken pox and other viral infections common in developing countries, the Yediot Aharonot daily reported on Tuesday.
"It's a real time bomb" (of communicable diseases), said Prof. Pini Halperin, who heads the emergency care unit at Tel Aviv's Ichilov Medical Center.
Asylum-seekers in Israel, the majority of whom illegally infiltrate the country through its border with Egypt, are not entitled to medical care, although hospitals admit patients only in rare circumstances. A fraction of those diagnosed with highly contagious diseases are placed in short-term quarantine.
"I admit them for treatment out of deep fear for their lives, but I'm forced to return them to the poor sanitary conditions they live in," Halperin said.
Prof. Gabi Barbash, the director of Ichilov, accused the authorities of gross negligence.
"We already have 100,000 infiltrators living here who, as far as the government and its institutions are concerned, simply don't exist. Only the hospitals shoulder the burden, and we're throwing sick people out to the street," he said.
The stern warning comes against a backdrop of heated debate in Israel over the future of some 60,000 asylum-seekers, with police recently reporting a dramatic rise in violent incidents, street crimes and rapes among the community and their Israeli neighbors, both populations dwelling mostly in south Tel Aviv.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday restated his warning that the country could be "overrun" by African migrants.
"The phenomenon is extremely serious and threatens Israel's social fabric, economy and national security," Netanyahu said at his cabinet's weekly meeting.
Interior Minister Eli Yishai, who chairs the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, echoed the sentiment expressed by Netanyahu, telling Army Radio last week that most African migrants are connected to crime and that all, "without exception," should be imprisoned and deported.
"Whoever is considered a refugee, and there are few, can stay," Yishai said. He drew a line between labor migrants and asylum- seekers from countries like Sudan and Eritrea fleeing conflict in their homelands.
Yishai, however, noted that neither he nor the government are responsible for the lives of migrants from rogue nations.
"I'm not responsible for what goes on in Eritrea and Sudan - the United Nations is ... There are millions there who might be murdered. Should we open our gates to all of them?" Yishai said, sparking the outrage of human rights groups looking after the migrants' welfare.
Israel is building a fence along its 240 km-long western border with Egypt, which officials say will significantly cut down the number of infiltrations once in place by the end of the year.
On Sunday, Netanyahu said the government has allocated a budget to construct a holding facility for asylum-seekers and is promoting legislation aimed at increasing the fines on Israeli employers of illegal immigrants.
Front Page Features