Migrants' Knesset protest
Migrants' Knesset protestHezki Ezra

As illegal migrants held a demonstration Wednesday outside the Knesset, MK Eli Yishai (Shas), the former Minister of Interior, said that the government should seize the opportunity to arrest and deport the protesters.

"I call on the Prime Minister, the Minister of Interior and the Minister of Public Security to take advantage of the fact that they are congregating at the Rose Garden in Jerusalem – just as if it were any other place – and to put them all on buses to the holding facilities,” he wrote on Facebook.

The state of Israel “has got to show unshakeable motivation in the face of the danger of being turned into 'a country of all its infiltrators,'” he added.

"There is no other solution, except putting all of te infiltrators, down to the very last one, in the holding facilities, taking away their work permits, and putting them on planes back to their country or a third country,” Yishai opined.

Any other solution would be tantamount to “lying to the public, deepening the problem and sending a message that Israel is removing its Jewish identity and is open to suggestions regarding new identities.”

Supporters of the migrants are “bleeding heart liberals,” he said Tuesday, and suggested that they assist Africans by building factories and greenhouses for them in Africa, together with the UN and various governments. Israel can take part in such projects, he added, but it cannot take in large numbers of migrants. “We are about to lose the Zionist dream,” he warned.

As long as work permits are not issued to the migrants and they are transferred to the holding facilities, he explained, they will leave of their own free will. But if they are able to work and earn monthly salaries equal to two years' salaries in their home countries, they will remain in Israel.