Italy’s far-right Salvini scheduled to visit Israel in December

Italian deputy prime minister and far-right party leader Matteo Salvini is scheduled to make an official visit to Israel in mid-December.

The Israeli Haaretz newspaper broke the news on Friday, saying Salvini’s visit to Israel will take place on December 11-12, without providing further details about the trip.

Salvini is known for his tough stance on immigration and fierce opposition to accepting asylum requests in the European country.

In recent years, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been seeking to develop closer ties with leaders associated with far-right views and parties in Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic, the Philippines and Brazil.

Salvini’s Northern League party scored huge gains in the March elections on its xenophobic platform and vowed mass expulsions of refugees.

The far-right leader, whose party has formed a ruling coalition with the Five Star Movement (M5S), has accused EU members of putting an unfair share of refugees and asylum seekers arriving in Europe on Italy’s shoulders.

Salvini has adopted a hardline stance on immigration and refugees since the coalition came to power in June, refusing to allow ships carrying refugees and asylum seekers rescued in the Mediterranean to dock at Italian ports.

PressTV-Refugees can forget about reaching Italy: Interior minister

Italy’s interior minister says he seeks to stop the business of trafficking and mafia.

Salvini also drew criticism and accusations of fascism earlier this year after he called for a registry of Italy's minority Roma community – mostly composed of people originally from Romania and the former Yugoslavia.

In a latest move, the Italian parliament on Thursday approved as law a tough anti-migrant and security bill drafted by the far-right leader despite strong criticism from the political left, making it easier to expel migrants and restrict residency permits.

Likewise, Israel's plans to deport African refugees have drawn international criticism. In April, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled a deal with the United Nations not to deport thousands of African migrants.

PressTV-For African Jews, deportations reveal Israel's racist face

The deportations of the immigrants - almost all African Jews - are creating a religious controversy in Israel, and prompting an outcry from international rights groups.

There are currently some 42,000 African migrants in Israel, some of whom are held in two detention centers, including the notorious Holot facility in Negev desert.

The migrants say the Israeli regime has already forced them in their thousands to southern Tel Aviv, intentionally making living conditions unbearable to put pressure on them.

Netanyahu has long referred to the African migrants as “infiltrators”, claiming that they pose a threat to Israel. The migrants known as Mizrachi, or Jews of Middle Eastern or North African descent, see the treatment as a form of racism.

Israel’s relationship with African nations has been fraught for years because of Tel Aviv's historic support for the apartheid regime in South Africa.

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