MK Tamar Zandberg (Meretz) accused Likud lawmakers of being "friends of Nazis" on Monday as a Knesset committee meeting on the topic of the Israeli policy to deport African asylum-seekers turned chaotic.
At the Knesset Internal Affairs Committee meeting, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri presented data on the matter, prompting lawmakers to openly shout at one another.
The meeting came amid a country-wide debate surrounding the deportation policy, with the government insisting the asylum-seekers will not face any danger upon being deported to a third party African nation, and many among the public decrying the move as inhumane, with some even comparing the deportation to the Holocaust.
When Zandberg echoed the comparison Monday in the committee meeting, MK Oren Hazan (Likud) responded: "It's bad enough that you betray your country with the Palestinians, but now you are also denying the Holocaust. You have no shame."
To opponents of the policy who claim that deporting asylum-seekers to Africa would seal their fate, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that "claims of danger are a joke."
Speaking to Likud ministers Sunday, Netanyahu proclaimed that "Rwanda is the safest place to send them."
Addressing the issue again at the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu labeled the opposition to the deportation policy "the absurd campaign currently being waged regarding the illegal labor migrants."
"First of all," he said, "we added approximately 45 new positions in order to expedite the review of asylum requests. Those found to be genuine refugees and their families will be allowed to remain in Israel."
"We have no obligation to allow illegal labor migrants who are not refugees to remain here," he added. "They will be deported to another country."
"International law and the High Court of Justice ruling here in Israel give us the authority to send illegal labor migrants beyond the borders of the state," he continued. "The designated country to which they are being sent has already absorbed 180,000 refugees under the aegis and supervision of the U.N., because the U.N. considers it to be one of the safest countries in Africa. Therefore, this campaign is baseless and absurd, especially today."
Other ministers, such as Culture Minister Miri Regev and Education Minister Naftali Bennett, joined in condemning the campaign against the deportation policy.
"The government adheres to international law and moral imperative," Bennett wrote Sunday. "Refugees will be absorbed, work infiltrators will be deported. We will not send anyone to their death, but we are also not Africa's employment office."
Meanwhile, a new petition that has been circulating online in recent days, which has already surpassed 4,000 signatures, is calling on the prime minister to withstand the public pressure and implement the deportation policy as planned.
"We, the undersigned, call upon you to implement the government's decision all the more forcibly and evict the infiltrators and border trespassers illegally staying in Israel from the whole country," the petition said.
The petition, initiated by the right-wing group Im Tirzu, stressed the state's obligation to its citizens. "The State of Israel must provide security, freedom and life to millions of citizens. Therefore, it must deport the infiltrators and allow the state's citizens to resume their lives in their homes and their neighborhoods with freedom and security."
According to the author of the petition, "The history of our people obligates the State of Israel to serve as an example in the care of children, the elderly and law-abiding citizens who seek refuge from illegal infiltrators - from violence, rape, theft, torture and unbearable suffering over the course of many years."
Im Tirtzu chairman Matan Peleg said Sunday that in response to "the despicable campaign by the New Israel Fund and its actions in support of the infiltrators, dubbed the 'Anne Frank campaign,' the Jewish people chose to raise a sharp and clear voice against this manipulation and in support of combating illegal infiltration."
