Threat to the fabric

Netanyahu on Tuesday said a tide of non-Jewish immigration would threaten the very fabric of Israel.

During Saturday's protest, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, head of the far-right Jewish Home party, appealed to the government in a tweet not to give in to those opposed to the deportations.

Describing the migrants as "the illegal infiltrators" who enter Israel in search of work, he said allowing them to stay would turn the country into "an employment agency for the entire world".

Israel considers the vast majority of the nearly 40,000 migrants to be job seekers and says it has no legal obligation to keep them.

Critics have called the government plan unethical and a stain on Israel's image as a refuge for Jewish migrants.

Afp - Ap