Stymied by bureaucracy and stonewalling by the defense establishment, Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu reissued his demand that a formidable barrier be erected on the 240-kilometer (150-mile) long border with Egypt to block the infiltration of African refugees. Some 20,000 illegal migrants have crossed into Israel in the past two years alone, creating what the government fears is a “demographic crisis.” Funding earmarked for the construction last February has reportedly been diverted to pay salaries in the defense establishment, which has been dragging its foot over the need for a physical barrier. The daily Haaretz has reported that the Foreign Ministry has been instructed to contact Western and African states to see if they are willing to absorb some of the Africans, mostly from Eritrea and Sudan.