The Israeli Supreme Court ruled last week that the implementation of the new law that sends refugees from the genocide in Darfur and from the totalitarian state of Eritrea to the Holot detention center will not be enforced at this time. The amendment, known as “the amendment to prevent infiltration” is delayed because petitions from human rights groups claim that the facility is not legal. In the past the court has ruled for the refugees. Certain parties in the government refer to these refugees as infiltrators, and the US State Department has noted the government’s discrimination against these people in the Human Rights report of 2013.

Judge Yoram Denzinger responded to the request from human rights organizations to cease the transfer of infiltrators to the detention facility until further notice. The state is expected to respond to the order within ten days.

Israeli Attorney Guy Sabri said the Israeli Supreme Court decision “dealt a fatal blow to Israel’s ability to exercise its sovereignty and to decide as a country those that enter the state. …Stopping the summoning of infiltrators to the facility is the denial of the last effective tool at the disposal of the authorities to protect the sovereignty of the country,” he stated. “The assistance organizations filed a petition against its annulment to continue their efforts to avoid a solution to coordinate the purpose of the law, which is to ensure the departure of the infiltrators from Israel’s borders, while increasing the distress for the residents of South Tel Aviv.”

Only a tiny percentage of the applications for asylum from these refugees have so far been approved by the government. Human rights organizations are concerned, because these refugees, in many cases, will be killed if they return to their home countries of Sudan and Eritrea.