Israel rejects Syrian refugees

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected calls for Israel to accept refugees from Syria.

Benjamin Netanyahu insisted Israel did not have the capacity to open its doors.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected calls for Israel to accept refugees from Syria, highlighting the inaction of Middle Eastern states not directly impacted by the deepening humanitarian crisis.

While countries with contiguous borders with Syria — Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq — have taken in millions of refugees, Mr Netanyahu insisted Israel did not have the capacity to open its doors.

“Israel is not indifferent to the human tragedy of the refugees from Syria and Africa,’’ the PM said.

“We have already devotedly cared for approximately 1000 wounded people from the fighting in Syria and we have helped them to rehabilitate their lives.’’

But Israel was a small country lacking the “demographic and geographic depth” to offer sanctuary to refugees.

“Therefore, we must control our borders against both illegal migrants and terrorism,” Mr Netanyahu said in Jerusalem.

His comments came after the leader of Israel’s opposition Labour Party, Isaac Herzog, said the country should “carry out a process of absorbing refugees from Syria in addition to humanitarian efforts already being made”.

“Jews cannot sit still while hundreds of thousands of refugees are looking for a safe asylum,” Mr Herzog said at the weekend.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also appealed to the UN to press Israel to allow Palestinians refugees uprooted from long-established camps and settlements in Syria to seek sanctuary in the West Bank territories and Gaza.

Turkey is housing an estimated two million refugees while Lebanon — with a resident population of just four million people — has accepted another 1.3 million displaced Syrians. Hundreds of thousands are living with relatives or in crowded camps in Jordan.

Germany’s move to accept Syrian refugees who walked to the borders of the European Union has put the spotlight on oil-rich Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates to do more than dispense cash.