Shaked: Replace migrant workers with Palestinians

Employers who lose African migrant workers should replace them with Palestinians, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said on Monday.

Referring to government efforts to get more African migrants to leave the country, Shaked told an audience at IDC Herzliya’s International Institute on Counterterrorism Conference that Palestinians with “work permits do not perpetrate attacks. Israel is trying to send Eritreans and Sudanese out of its borders and those who can replace them are the Palestinians. Do not be afraid. If they take your Eritrean and Sudanese workers – switch them with Palestinians!”

Shaked also addressed the threat posed by the Iranian-Syrian nexus. She said that Syria’s President Hafez Assad must “keep Iran out if he wants to survive.”

“Israel needs to pressure world powers to not allow [Iran to establish a strong presence in Syria],” and should world powers not comply, the Jewish state should “do what we need to do.”

Speaking about the possibility of a growing Iranian presence in the conflict-addled Syria, Shaked said that “Iran’s [presence] in Syria can be very bad and Israel will not agree to them” establishing weapons factories and ports.

She also expressed her hope that “world powers won’t allow it.”

The justice minister went on to warn of an attempt by different terror groups in the area, backed by Iran, to build a “Shi’ite bridge from Iran [all the way across the] Syrian border with Israel.”

Regarding the situation on the northern border, where the IDF is holding a large drill to prepare for a possible future altercation with Hezbollah, the minister said that Israel has to “make sure Hezbollah doesn’t get “game-changing weapons” and also warned that “Hezbollah’s weapons [arsenal] is growing.”