Netanyahu scraps UN agreement to resettle thousands of asylum seekers
ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cancelled an agreement with the United Nations to resettle thousands of African migrants.
The move came after pressure from members of his coalition prompted him earlier to suspend the agreement.
Mr Netanyahu suddenly announced on Monday night he was suspending the deal, just hours after touting it on national television, until he could meet with Israeli residents of south Tel Aviv, which has areas with large migrant populations.
After meeting residents yesterday Mr Netanyahu said he had weighed the pros and cons and “decided to cancel the agreement”.
The move came after pressure from the PM’S nationalist allies, who lashed out against the deal.
Naftali Bennett, leader of the nationalist Jewish Home party, tweeted shortly before the prime minister’s statement nullifying the deal that the agreement “is bad for Israel”.
He said: “It’s not enough to suspend it, I call on the prime minister to cancel it completely”. He added: “Its approval would cause generations of crying and determine a precedent in Israel granting residency for illegal infiltrators.”
Mr Netanyahu had announced on Monday afternoon Israel agreed to cancel the planned expulsion of the migrants.
The deal called for sending about half of the 35,000 African migrants to Western nations and allowing the rest to remain in Israel.
Dozens of migrants and their Israeli supporters protested against the suspension outside the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem and government offices in Tel Aviv as Mr Netanyahu met neighbourhood representatives.
Some protesters stripped to the waist, draped themselves with chains and taped their mouths shut at a protest in Tel Aviv. Others waved signs reading “human lives are not to play with. Yes to the deal”.
Protester Daniella Elyashar called on Mr Netanyahu to “stop this political game”. Another protester, Veronika Cohen, said: “Yesterday we were in tears of joy and this morning just in tears.”
Most of the African migrants are from war-torn Sudan and Eritrea, the latter having one of the world’s worst human rights records. The migrants say they are asylum-seekers fleeing danger and persecution, while Israeli leaders say they are job seekers.