The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and Kav L’Oved have jointly appealed in writing to the Minister of the Interior, Aryeh Deri (Shas), and to the chairman of the Knesset’s Interior Committee, MK David Amsalem (Likud), to warn about the anticipated ramifications if the creation of a “deposit fund” for the working population of refugees and asylum seekers in Israel is approved its currently proposed format.

Outside the office of the Ministry of the Interior in Tel Aviv, asylum seekers wait in line for hours to renews their visa (or to receive a summons to be placed in the detention camp “Holot” in the Negev) (Photo: The Center for Refugees and Migrants)

According to the two NGOs: “The purpose of the reform is to exacerbate the employment situation of asylum seekers and to greatly reduce their already meager income (by making mandatory that 20% of their wages be deducted up front and deposited in the fund) and significantly increase the cost of hiring them (by obliging employers to deposit, at their own expense, an additional 16% of the workers’ salaries in the fund). Such provisions would create a particularly severe rate of deductions, 36%, each month that would have to be deposited in the fund.”  The letter further indicates that the proposed legislation calls for significantly debiting the amounts deposited the more the “infiltrator” does not leave Israel by some date to be determined in future. According to these human rights groups, the deductions stipulated in the proposed legislation would leave the asylum seeker with a rate of wages substantially below the mandatory minimum wage, thereby dramatically impairing their ability to earn an honorable living and this for a period of time for which, to date, there is no end in sight.”