Once again the Supreme Court has intervened, undermining decisions made by the Knesset. The High Court on Tuesday, 26 Menachem Av ruled the 20-month detention of illegal aliens in the Holot detention center is too long, giving the state six months to revise the procedure. An expanded nine-justice panel of the court ruled on the third version of the infiltration law headed by Court President Miriam Naor. The court backed the state’s policy of detaining migrants in the Saharonim Prison for three months, but was critical of the extended 20-month detention period at Holot, knocking that period down to 12 months.

That means the bill which was passed into law in the 19th Knesset will once again have to be amended.

Residents of the Holot detention facility are not locked up around-the-clock, but they are permitted to leave at 06:00 and they must return by 22:00. They are not permitted to work. There are over 1,700 migrants from Eritrea and Sudan at the Holot facility seeking asylum in Israel.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu expressed satisfaction over the position taken by the High Court. He has accepted in principle the state’s position, according to which the illegal influx of labor migrants is unacceptable and that they may be held in order to achieve the necessary deterrence. Official’s in the Prime Minister’s Office add the ruling will be studied and the state will act to implement it.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)