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Netanyahu cries foul as court protects asylum-seekers from indefinite detention

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is framing a recent ruling to limit detention periods for asylum-seekers as further evidence of the threat they pose to Israeli society.
African asylum seekers gather for a morning meeting during an overnight protest after leaving Holot open detention centre in southern Israel's Negev desert, June 28, 2014. Israel opened Holot as part of its bid to rid itself of some of the 50,000 African migrants, mostly Sudanese and Eritreans, who have entered its territory illegally since around 2007. Several hundred asylum seekers attempted on Friday to march to the nearby border with Egypt, where they hoped to bring international attention to their stru
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How often can one incite against liberals and dump on the media to divert public attention? It seems that every so often, the repertoire of fear and hatred must be diversified to continue distracting the public from the tightening noose of criminal investigations against the Netanyahu family.

On Aug. 28, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was handed a golden opportunity to spread some hatred. Five Supreme Court justices, known among the populist right as “elites,” issued a ruling that showed consideration for asylum-seekers, or as the famously law-abiding Israeli premier calls them, “illegal infiltrators.” A petition had been submitted by human rights activists to limit detention of this population. To hear Netanyahu tell it, all these asylum-seekers had joined forces to make life miserable for the downtrodden residents of southern Tel Aviv’s disadvantaged neighborhoods so dearly cherished by the prime minister and his wife.

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