A former hareidi religious legislator warned the government on Tuesday to stop “bleeding hearts” from making the country a refuge for non-Jews and criminals. Journalist Yisrael Eichler, a former Knesset Member in the United Torah Judaism party, told Arutz 7 that while non-Jews from poor countries come to Israel, “the media prefers to deal with a screwball who puts up posters” and feel sorry for foreign workers and refugees who are flooding the country. “I call on all the religious Knesset Members to immediately stop this wave that is turning Israel into a refuge for Russian and African non-Jews as well as criminals who flee from their native countries," he said. The recent arrest of a non-Jewish Russian immigrant, charged with the gruesome murder of two parents, two children and two of their grandparents, sparked Eichler’s anger at Israel’s liberal immigration policies. Russian authorities asked Israel to extradite the suspect three years ago for armed robbery, but the government allowed him to remain in the country. Many European countries are closing their doors to immigrants from Asian and African countries, and the United States regularly deports illegal immigrants. Israel currently is embroiled in efforts by mainstream media and secular groups to prevent the deportation of children of illegal immigrants, deflecting a campaign led by National Union MK Yaakov “Ketzaleh” Katz against the growing infiltration of thousands of Sudanese and other Africans. Southern cities, such as Arad and Be’er Sheva, are being flooded with Africans who, along with the growing Bedouin population, threatened to leave Jews as a minority in the Negev. “Everyone feels sorry for the children of foreign workers, but what about the 750,000 poor Jewish children in Israel? No one feels sorry for them,” Eichler noted. “Why doesn’t a Jew want to leave his own country and move to Israel if he has no reason to do so? Why do non-Jewish people from Russia and Ukraine want to come here when there are other countries in the world?” he asked. Answering his own questions, Eichler castigated the media and “bleeding hearts” who support the growing non-Jewish population. He praised the aliyah of Jews from Russia but charged former Prime Minister Yitzchak Shamir for the "crime of deciding to bring non-Jews along with Jews.” He told a story of a Jew who moved to Israel from the former Soviet bloc, where he had been attacked several times by anti-Semites. The immigrant met the same non-Jewish attacker on a bus in Israel and asked him how he arrived in Israel. The man answered, “I found a Jewish girl friend and made Aliyah.”
