Government abandons plan to forcibly deport African migrants
Netanyahu orders immediate reopening of detention centers
The state announced that it will not be deporting asylum seekers to third-party countries in a document addressing the High Court, on Tuesday.
“At this stage, the possibility of carrying out an unwilling deportation to a third country is not on the agenda,” the government wrote in a response to the court.
The plan to deport thousands of mostly Eritrean and Sudanese men to a third-party country against their will has been in the works for months, and although the immigration authority will continue to find options to deport asylum seekers voluntarily, they will no longer be deporting them to a third country against their will.
Eighteen asylum seekers, whose residence permits have already expired, will be given permit renewals every 60 days as was customary in the past.
In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Interior Minister Arye Deri agreed on Tuesday that preparations for the reopening of detention centers for asylum seekers will begin immediately.
The two also stated that they will continue pushing for the Knesset’s override clause to be passed, enabling the government to overrule decisions regarding these matters made by the High Court.
MKs from the opposition responded favorably to the decision. Zionist Union MK Itzik Shmuli said: “The incitement and threats did nothing to help, and justice has won. The nation-state of the Jewish people simply cannot send refugees to an unknown fate.”
MK Shelly Yacimovich added that the state’s announcement is “a welcome step that will save Israel from committing a serious and harmful act.”
Several Meretz MKs called it “a great victory for civil society, moralists and human rights defenders... Now, a decade late, the time has come to stop the incitement against asylum seekers and to act vigorously to strengthen south Tel Aviv and to aid in the absorption of asylum seekers.”
Migrants and rights groups say they are seeking asylum and have fled war and persecution. The government says they are economic migrants and that it has every right to protect its borders.
Around 4,000 migrants have left Israel for Rwanda and Uganda since 2013 under a voluntary program, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came under pressure from his rightwing voter base to expel thousands more.
After leaving a UN-backed relocation plan a few weeks ago, Israel shifted efforts towards finalizing an arrangement to send the migrants against their will to Uganda.
A number of migrant rights groups petitioned the Supreme Court to block any such policy.