Armed man detained ahead of Israel rally in support of migrants

TEL AVIV — Israeli forces said they detained two men, one armed, after they allegedly made online threats to disrupt a rally on Saturday in solidarity with African migrants facing expulsion.

It said the men were "detained for questioning" after a Facebook post apparently calling for a violent counter-protest as opponents of a government crackdown on the migrants gathered in Tel Aviv.

"Friends it's happening... the battle to throw out the infiltrators," said the post, reproduced in an Israeli forces’ statement. "It's time to riot and defend our home."

The term "infiltrators" is used by Israeli authorities and supporters of mass deportation to refer to the migrants, who began entering Israel illegally through what was then a porous border with Egypt in 2007.

Israeli forces said comments posted in response to the Facebook entry included "I am armed."

"Israel police immediately located the two suspects, detained them for questioning and at the conclusion confiscated from one of the suspects his weapon," the statement added.

Forces said they expected about 5,000 people to take part in the solidarity rally, in the Neve Shaanan neighbourhood of south Tel Aviv, where many of the migrants have settled.

A smaller counter-protest was taking place nearby, Israeli media said, but there were no immediate reports of friction between the two sides.

Israeli forces were out in force and said they would not tolerate public disorder.

In 2012, an anti-migrant demonstration in Tel Aviv drew about 1,000 participants and spiralled into a race riot in which there were shouts of "Blacks out!" and attacks on African-run shops.

Saturday's solidarity event was initiated by Israeli residents of Neve Shaanan but organisers said they hoped that people would come from all over Israel to show support.

The interior ministry says there are currently about 42,000 African migrants in Israel, half of them children, women or men with families.

Single men have been given the choice of leaving Israel by early April or facing indefinite imprisonment.

Most are from Sudan or Eritrea and say they would be at risk if repatriated.

Acknowledging that some could face danger if returned home, Israel is proposing to send them to an unnamed third country, which migrants and aid workers say is Rwanda or Uganda.

The policy has drawn criticism from the United Nations refugee agency as well as some Israelis.

Public opposition to the plan has been slow to build, but some Israeli airline pilots have reportedly said they will not fly forced deportees.

Academics have published a petition and Israeli Holocaust survivors wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month pleading with him to reconsider.

Religious and conservative leaders, including Netanyahu, have presented Muslim and Christian migrants as a threat to Israel's Jewish identity.

His government is considered the most rightwing in Israel's history.

On Wednesday, hundreds of asylum-seekers at a detention centre in southern Israel launched an open-ended hunger strike after several of them were transferred to prison in the Negev desert for refusing to leave the Israel state voluntarily.