The Oct. 7 session of the Knesset’s Interior Affairs Committee started with a bang. The committee chairwoman, Knesset member Miri Regev, was a volcano waiting to erupt. She began with a clarification: “I am talking about labor migrants, not about the refugees. We will absorb refugees everywhere in the country — including the [upscale neighborhoods of] Rehavia and Kfar Shmaryahu, as well as the neighborhoods where the judges reside.” She then went on a personal, mocking tirade against Supreme Court Justice Uzi Fogelman, who headed the judicial panel that for the second time invalidated the anti-infiltration law. The legislation sanctioned the jailing of asylum seekers from Africa for one year at the Holot detention facility in the Negev.
“This ruling sent a message to tens of thousands of Africans: Come, cross the fence. … This is truly the land of milk and honey,” Regev said. She then turned to a resident of south Tel Aviv and asked him, “Do you have a partner? Go to Fogelman and ask him to help you find one. … All residents of south Tel Aviv, if you’re having trouble finding partners, go to the judge! The Supreme Court has become a matchmaker.” Regev was referring to one of the reasons the judges cited for rescinding the law: Prolonged internment prevents refugees from filling their lives with meaning and meeting a mate.