Cabinet Communique
(Communicated by the Cabinet Secretariat)

At the weekly Cabinet meeting today (Sunday), 28.11.10:

1. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the following:

"Today, the cabinet will discuss one of the components of the plan for
stopping the wave of illegal infiltrators into the country. This growing
wave threatens Israelis' jobs, is changing the character of the country and
we must stop it. We do not intend to arrest refugees from war. We allow
them to enter and will continue to do so. But we must stop the mass entry
of illegal infiltrators who are looking for work due to the very harsh
repercussions that this wave will have on the character and future of the
State of Israel.

This Government, unlike its predecessors, acts. The first thing that we
have started to do is to erect a fence and a ground barrier along our
south-western border. This is happening right now. At the same time, we
will impose very heavy fines on those who employ illegal workers. We must
provide a humanitarian response for those employees who will be out of work.
We must give them food, lodgings and medical services until they leave the
country; therefore, we will decided today on housing facilities similar to
those in the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and other countries. The fourth
thing is action in the international sphere, to repatriate the infiltrators
to their countries of origin and to intermediate countries from which they
will make their way to their countries of origin. This is an integrated
national plan that is designed to finally change direction; after years of
talk, we are finally taking action to change the direction of mass entry
into the State of Israel."

"Today, we are marking International Women's Day. We will mark the day by
discussing the issue of violence against women. Last year, in Israel, 16
women were murdered by their partners. This is intolerable, as is violence
that does not result in murder. Today, we will do two things: One, I have
asked the Authority for the Advancement of the Status of Women to formulate
a national plan on the struggle against violence against women, and this is
being done in coordination with Minister Limor Livnat, Minister Yitzhak
Herzog and Deputy Minister Gila Gamliel. At the same time, we will invest
NIS 7.1 million in renovating shelters and giving grants to victims of
violence in order to assist them in integrating into the labor market. I
believe that these are necessary and underscore our commitment to rid
society of this blight, and to fight it every way possible."

"Today, we will also submit to the Cabinet a plan on reducing the emission
of greenhouse gases. This plan is necessary given the process of global
warming. We see, for example, that we are facing the driest winter in
decades. We do not know when it will end but it has very severe
environmental implications regarding – inter alia – water use and air
pollution. All of these phenomena require us to join in the national and
international effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

This plan has been worked on by Environmental Protection Minister Gilad
Erdan, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, Industry, Trade and Labor Minister
Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and their people, along with National Economic Council
Chairman, Eugene Kandel, and Prime Minister's Office Director-General, Eyal
Gabai. It is a NIS 2.2 billion, ten-year plan that will already invest NIS
500 million over the next two years. We intend to deal with a variety of
issues, starting with reducing home consumption, encouraging green
construction, and Israeli technologies that promote greater energy
efficiency while maintaining the environment. We will take another series
of steps, the goal of which is place the State of Israel along with the
other advanced countries in this field."

"Today we, and the Ethiopian community, mark the Sigd holiday. I and
several other ministers intend to be at this evening's great event. Last
week we decided to bring the remaining Falashmura to Israel. Today, we will
decide on adding 30 civil service positions for academics from the Ethiopian
community. I believe that this reflects our commitment and our desire to
see members of the community integrate into the national leadership, in the
public sector as well as in the private sector."

2. Deputy Minister Gila Gamliel discussed International Women's Day and the
phenomenon of violence against women in Israel.

3. The Cabinet decided to amend its 21.11.10 decision and appointed Noga
Keinan to replace Prof. Ben-Zion Zilberberg on the committee that will
evaluate candidates for the post of Civil Service Commissioner.

4. The Cabinet approved the following Foreign Service appointments:

Alon Bar – Ambassador to Spain & non-resident Ambassador to Andorra;

Yosef Levy – Ambassador to Serbia & non-resident Ambassador to Montenegro;

Jack Yaakov Revach – Ambassador to Belgium & non-resident Ambassador to
Luxembourg;

Elhanan Ben-Tora – Ambassador to El Salvador & non-resident Ambassador to
Belize.

5. The Cabinet approved a decision regarding the allocation of 30 civil
service positions in 2011 to academics from the Ethiopian community.

6. The Cabinet approved a decision regarding the establishment of a housing
center for infiltrators in the south of the country.

7. The Cabinet approved a decision to reduce the emission of greenhouse
gases in Israel.