Israel is taking steps to curb the influx of migrant workers arriving from Africa.
以色列正在采取措施以遏制来自非洲的移民工涌入以色列。
With about 2,000 African migrants illegally entering Israel each month, the Cabinet approved a program to deal with what it sees as a growing threat.
由于每个月有将近2千名非洲移民非法进入以色列，以色列内阁通过了一个处理这个问题的计划。以色列把非法移民涌入看作是越来越严重的威胁。
The $167-million plan calls for speeding up construction of a security fence on the porous border with Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, from where the migrants are smuggled into Israel. Detention facilities will be constructed and expanded to hold the migrants, and employers who hire them will be fined.
这项耗资1亿6千7百万美元的计划要求加速在与埃及的西奈半岛交界地区建造一座安全围篱，移民是从这个漏洞百出的边界被走私进入以色列的。此外，还将扩大兴建拘留设施以拘押这些移民，雇用非法移民的雇主将被处以罚金。
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel must take decisive action before it is too late.
以色列总理内塔尼亚胡说，以色列必须采取果断行动，以免为时太晚。
“This is a national epidemic,” Netanyahu told the Cabinet. He said it poses a threat to Israel economically, socially and from the standpoint of security.
内塔尼亚胡对内阁说：“这种情况在全国到处泛滥。”他说，这给以色列的经济、社会和安全都带来威胁。
Officials say more than 40,000 illegal African migrants have entered Israel since 2006, most of them from war-torn Sudan and Eritrea. That has raised alarm in a small Jewish state already facing a growing demographic threat from the Palestinians.
以色列官员说，自2006年以来，已经有4万多名非法的非洲移民进入以色列，他们大部分来自饱受战争蹂躏的苏丹和厄立特里亚。这种情况让这个犹太小国感到警觉，而以色列已经面临着来自巴勒斯坦人越来大的人口威胁。
Netanyahu warned that if the trend is not stopped, the number of Africans entering Israel could rise to 100,000 a year.
内塔尼亚胡警告说，如果这个趋势不停止，进入以色列的非洲人数目可能上升到每年10万人。“We have no obligation to receive illegal migrants,” he said, adding that if Israel does not stop the flood, the nation will be swept away by it.
内塔尼亚胡说，以色列没有义务接收非法移民。他补充说，如果以色列没有制止移民涌入，那么这个国家就会被移民淹没掉。
The issue poses a moral dilemma for Israel because during the Holocaust, Jewish refugees fleeing from the Nazis were turned away from Western countries.
这个问题给以色列带来了一个道德困境，因为大屠杀期间，逃离纳粹的犹太难民不被西方国家所接受。
Reut Michaeli, who heads Israel’s Hotline for Migrant Workers, says the government’s response is wrong.
以色列的移民工热线负责人罗伊特.米夏埃利认为，政府的反应是错误的。
Michaeli told Israel Radio that Israel is a nation of refugees that was established by refugees, and therefore it has an obligation to open its doors to Africans who have fled from war and persecution.
米夏埃利对以色列广播电台说，以色列是个难民国家，是由难民建立的，因此以色列有义务为逃离战乱和迫害的非洲人敞开大门。
But the government says the vast majority of Africans arriving here are economic migrants and not refugees.
但是政府表示，来到以色列的非洲人中绝大部分是经济移民，而不是难民。
Prime Minister Netanyahu plans to travel to several African nations soon to discuss repatriating the migrants.
以色列总理内塔尼亚胡计划最近到几个非洲国家访问，讨论遣返移民的问题。