Israel will reinforce its eastern border with Jordan by building a fence to prevent illegal migration and a possible wave of "infiltrators" from Africa, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.
"Africa will double its population in the next 20 years … Unfortunately, in Africa there is hunger and a lack of economic progress which could lead to another wave of infiltrators. Therefore, several weeks ago I directed that an eastern fence be built to thereby reinforce – first of all – the borders in order to ensure that we have a Jewish and democratic state," Netanyahu said in a statement published by his office.
The prime minister also said that the fence along the Israeli-Egyptian border, which was completed in 2013, blocked "at least one million infiltrators," adding that the "problem is not over."
"Regarding those who have already entered, several tens of thousands, we have already expatriated 12,000, with incentives. What we did not do, which in my opinion would have caused us a disaster if we had accepted it, was accept the UN proposal that would have given citizenship to 16,000 infiltrators," the prime minister added.
He noted that the clashes of Eritrean asylum seekers, who protested against their country's current government in Tel Aviv on Saturday, "crossed a red line."
On Saturday, hundreds of Eritrean migrants clashed with supporters of the Eritrean authorities near the site of an event in Tel Aviv organized by the Eritrean Embassy in Israel. More than 100 people were injured in the clashes, including several dozen police officers. Netanyahu instructed relevant agencies to develop a plan for gradually deporting all undocumented migrants from Israel and called illegal migration from Africa a real threat to Israel's future.