A number of crises have driven people to seek refuge in Germany, prompting backlash from worried citizens. Now Chancellor Merkel is calling on them to welcome the diversity, saying Germany is a "country of immigration."
Germany received more than 200,000 requests for asylum in 2014, with the country taking in nearly 800,000 migrants. The number is expected to be even more this year.
Speaking to citizens in a conference on the quality of life in Germany on Monday, the Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would like to work for a culture that would be more welcoming towards refugees.
"There is something enriching if someone wants to come to us," Merkel said at the townhall-style meeting. These people needed to feel at home in Germany and it's important that they can work, she added.
Merkel also emphasized the need for concrete job offers for refugees from Africa, especially in professions where there was a demand for more skilled workers.
"Israel has begun to toughen its stance toward refugees, telling unwanted Africans here they must leave now or face an indefinite stay in prison.
"Israeli authorities are sending letters to the first of 45,000 Eritrean and Sudanese refugees, informing them they have 30 days to accept Israel’s offer of $3,500 in cash and a one-way ticket home or to an unnamed third country in Africa, or face incarceration at Saharonim prison."
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Merkel talks about Germany's "...need for concrete job offers for refugees from Africa..."
Why doesn't she talk about Israel's policy toward African refugees?
Israeli government to African refugees: Go back to Africa or go to prison:
Mutasim Ali, an African migrant from Sudan is seen talking on his mobile phone outside Holot detention center, where African migrants are being held, on May 4, in the Negev Desert, southern Israel.
"Israeli authorities are sending letters to the first of 45,000 Eritrean and Sudanese refugees, informing them they have 30 days to accept Israel’s offer of $3,500 in cash and a one-way ticket home or to an unnamed third country in Africa, or face incarceration at Saharonim prison."
