Israel has told illegal immigrants from Ivory Coast to leave the country, the latest step in its crackdown on Africans who have entered the country unlawfully

Israel has been alarmed by an influx of migrants from Africa through its border with Egypt, and has begun weekly airlifts to deport a few hundred South Sudanese. The ministry said that there were around 2,000 Ivorians in the country illegally, out of a total of some 60,000 African migrants who Israel says are mostly job seekers and threaten to upset the nation’s demographics. It is legally questionable whether the majority of African migrants in Israel, about 50,000 people from war-torn Eritrea and Sudan, could be deported. There have been numerous reports of violent acts perpetrated against African migrants, as well as a spate of incidents against persons of color mistaken as migrants by their Israeli assailants. Demonstration turned violent when scores among the protesters attacked African passersby and looted their stores.