Netanyahu says Israel will never remain Jewish state if eastern border is not closed

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that without a fence along the border with Jordan, Israel will never remain a Jewish state, Arab48.com reported on Tuesday. Citing Kan 11, the website said that Netanyahu made his comment during a recent ministerial council meeting.

Following the riots by Eritrean asylum seekers earlier this month that rocked south Tel Aviv, Netanyahu reiterated his previous announcement that building a fence along the eastern border would prevent the infiltration of refugees.

“Israel is one of the few countries which control their borders almost completely,” he said. “However, we have the eastern border without a fence. We have to close it.”

He claimed that countries cannot deal with the ongoing refugee wave coming from Africa and Muslim countries, citing Cyprus as an example. Almost seven per cent of its residents are now Muslims, he claimed.

According to Netanyahu, Israel would have become like such countries if its southern and northern borders had not been closed.

Arab48.com said that Israel plans to build the fence in order to stop arms being smuggling from Jordan. Several attempts to smuggle weapon and ammunition have been foiled in the past few months.

Israel is the only UN member state that has never actually declared where its borders are. Critics of the apartheid state point to its constant expansion within occupied Palestinian territory as the reason for this.

OPINION: Israel is worried that the Jordan border could be a conduit for arms smuggling