Perhaps it was the association conjured up by the photo of a Czech policewoman inking a number on the arm of a small boy that broke the silence of Israeli politicians. Perhaps the photo of the Syrian infant’s body washed ashore in Turkey was what moved the debate out of its narrow confines between the left-wing Meretz Party and the Joint List of predominantly Arab parties. “Jews cannot be apathetic when hundreds of thousands of refugees are searching for a safe haven,” declared Zionist Camp leader Isaac Herzog Aug. 5. He added, “Our people experienced firsthand the silence of the world [referring to the Holocaust] and cannot be indifferent in the face of the rampant murders and massacres taking place in Syria.” Opposition leader Herzog was not content with just preaching and called for Israel to take in Syrian refugees “in a supervised manner.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reaction was not long in coming. At the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting the following day he said, "Israel is not indifferent to the human tragedy of the refugees from Syria and Africa.” Netanyahu boasted of the fact that Israel had tended devotedly to some 1,000 Syrians wounded on the war front and helped them rehabilitate. Nonetheless, he was quick to add, “Israel is a small country, a very small country that lacks demographic and geographic depth; therefore, we must control our borders, against both illegal labor migrants and instigators of terrorism.”