Politicians on the Left and Right responded strongly to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision Tuesday to cancel a compromise that would have prevented the mass deportation of illegal African migrants from Israel.
Under the agreement, 16,250 of the roughly 37,000 African migrants currently in Israel, most of them from Eritrea and Sudan, would have been relocated to Western nations while the rest would have been permitted to stay in Israel.
Before the agreement was reached, many of the migrants faced immediate deportation back to Africa, as they are considered labor migrants rather than refugees fleeing threats in their home countries. Most of them live in already impoverished south Tel Aviv, where many of the locals say they live in fear of the migrants' violence and rowdiness.
Opponents of the deportation policy argue that the migrants would in fact face grave threats if returned to Africa, and have urged the government to reverse the policy and find a solution for the migrants.
Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who saw the compromise deal as "bad for Israel," congratulated Netanyahu on his decision to rescind it, and said that "an irreparable mistake has been prevented. Now we must take action to remove the infiltrators."
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely said, "Canceling the deal was the right decision. The government will find a way to remove the infiltrators from Israel. We won't reward work seekers by calling them refugees; they were and are work seekers who broke the law by entering Israel illegally."
MK Oren Hazan tweeted: "Congratulations on canceling the pathetic deal – I'm happy that the prime minister listened to the people. Now it's time to stop with the long-winded debate: Take the infiltrators and put them on planes with one-way tickets!"
MK Tamar Zandberg, chairwoman of the left-wing party Meretz, had a diametrically different response. "The online commenters that Netanyahu has cultivated and drawn out of the keyboard into the real world have now gotten out of control. They pathetically and despicably pressured him into capitulating, proving once again that Netanyahu has no actual policy. He only has a lighter and an extinguisher and he uses them to serve his personal interests," Zandberg said.
"Netanyahu has now run away, leaving behind a reality where there is no deportation, no compromise agreement and no solution for neither the refugees nor the residents of south Tel Aviv," she went on to say. "As soon as the Knesset recess ends, the Meretz faction will submit a bill based on the outline of the agreement between the Israeli government and the U.N., the one that was presented three days ago and then rescinded by Netanyahu. In the event that the bill is passed, the government will be bound to comply with it."
Opposition leader MK Isaac Herzog said that the "unbelievable U-turn Netanyahu has made in the past day on addressing the issue of migrants and asylum-seekers indicates more than anything weakness and hysteria on the part of a prime minister, whose decisions for the good of the state are marred over and over by politics."
Labor party leader Avi Gabbay also attacked Netanyahu, saying, "The prime minister has no shame, even now that [his] decision-making process and evasion of responsibility have been exposed to all."
Meanwhile, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on Tuesday "regretted" the revocation of the agreement.
The UNHCR issued a press release that read, "The agreement was the result of discussions over an extended period of time, and reflected a shared effort to find a solution that gave international protection to people arriving in Israel fleeing war or persecution while also meeting the concerns of Israeli host communities.
"UNHCR continues to believe that a win-win agreement that would both benefit Israel and people needing asylum is in everyone's best interests. And we encourage the government of Israel to consider the matter further, while standing ready to be of help."
