Mannequin heads covered with artificial “blood” were left at the door of the office Population, Immigration and Border Authority (PIBA) in Tel Aviv as a sign of protest against the impending deportation of African asylum-seekers from Israel.
The doll heads were accompanied by notes reading “their blood is on your hands,” and “this is just the beginning,” according to Israel’s Hadashot TV.
PIBA said in a statement that the incident was a “despicable act against government employees doing their jobs, an act that has no resemblance to a legitimate fight or acceptable [form of] protest.”
“[It is] an act of insanity that calls for violence the likes of which are seen in the underworld and we won’t let it come to pass quietly. Today, a red line was crossed and this is where it stops,” the authority emphasized.
Two days ago, 800 American Jewish clergymen signed an open letter calling on the government to stop the looming deportations.
“Our own experience of slavery and liberation, and our own experience as refugees, compel us to act with mercy and justice toward those seeking refuge among us.”
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Last week, a group of Israeli Holocaust survivors did the same, according to the Haaretz daily.
“We ask you: Stop this process!” their letter read. “Only you have the authority to take the historic decision, and to show the world that the Jewish state will not allow suffering and torture of people under its protection.”
Earlier this month, the Israeli government approved an amendment under which about 38,000 illegal migrants, mainly Eritrean and Sudanese, would be obligated to leave the country by April 2018, with indefinite imprisonment for those who refuse to leave the country “voluntarily.” Israel promised to provide the asylum-seekers with a free plane ticket and $3,500 for a fresh start in their home countries, or “third countries.” In the event of missing the deadline, the amount will significantly shrink and those who attempt to avoid the deportation process will inevitably end up in jail.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously stated that a barrier Israel had built in 2013 along its border with Egypt after some 60,000 migrants crossed the desert frontier has drastically halted the influx of illegal immigration.
"Compared with the more than 2,000 infiltrators who entered Israel exactly a year ago and dispersed in various cities, only two crossed the border last month, and they were arrested," he said.