April 05, 2018

Netanyahu's scrap of U.N. deal has huge implications

located:	Israel
editor:	Shira Jeczmien

Hundreds marched the streets of Tel Aviv on Tuesday, April 3, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s abrupt decision to deport thousands of migrants from Israel, just hours after agreeing with the U.N. to help resettle them in the west and in the country. Israelis alongside migrants, asylum seekers and refugees protested. Some legal, some not. Most of them are Eritrean and Sudanese, technically protected from deportation under international law, pushed forward by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). They are marching for their right to live in dignity. But what might not be as apparent, is that they are also marching for the future of Israel.

There are currently around 38,000 documented Eritrean and Sudanese migrants living in Israel, many of whom have entered the country illegally by foot through Egypt before the highly secured fence was completed in 2012. These are individuals who have left the turmoil in their own country, endured inhumane conditions and payed huge sums of money for this journey to Israel – which often includes human trafficking, work camps, rape, loss of family members and violence. Without this crucial U.N. agreement to resettle 16,000 migrants in western countries and give temporary residency to an equal number in Israel, these individuals – some of which have built a new life in Israel, learnt the language, integrated into work (although this work usually entails low paid manual labour) – are now facing a future of legal limbo within Israel. Or worst, deportation back to their birth country, or a third country. Many face prosecution if they are returned home.

Netanyahu’s jolting change of hearts on the agreement with the U.N. has put him, his Likud party, and the country he is running under unprecedented scrutiny. Yes, Israel is indeed always under fire from international parties, yet this time round, and perhaps more importantly, it is the repercussion Netanyahu’s decision has had locally that’s worth noting.

The initial agreement came as a surprise to many Israeli citizens, attracting a high level of media attention from the get go. Since February, under a deportation initiative pushed forward by the hardliners in Netanyahu’s coalition, African male migrants were issued cold warnings, notifying them of a two-month evacuation period or prosecution. As reported by the Washington Post, “The migrants were offered $3,500 to relocate to an unnamed “third country” — widely reported to be Uganda or Rwanda — or return to their home country.” The policy was temporarily halted on March 15th as a result of pressure put on the Israeli government by local advocacy groups working on behalf of migrants in the country.

What Netanyahu’s shocking incoherence revealed to his country’s citizens is that the man sitting in the high office is unable to stand against the pressure of his own party and coalition. And most importantly, that his decisions are derived from his desperation to maintain the keys to that office. Naftali Bennett, Minister of Education and leader of the nationalist Jewish Home party, currently in coalition with Netanyahu’s Likud, tweeted Tuesday that the Prime Minister should “cancel it altogether” and “Its approval would cause generations of crying and set a precedent in Israel granting residency for illegal infiltrators,”. With the quick rise of hardliners in the country, Netanyahu could not let this U.N. agreement destroy his credibility within the right – and with that, allowing Bennett – his potential competitor – to grab a slice of his approval rates across the country.

Beyond the tragic inhumanity of this deportation policy and disregard to the country’s responsibility to aid human life – of any nationality or religion – what Netanyahu’s actions reveal is that he has no hesitation to expose the true political agenda of his so-called ‘right-wing’ party. It is a nationalist extremist mechanism working to negate equality and fuel hatred; to point out our differences rather than commonalities; to separate any idea of peace and co-existence from the idea of an Israeli country and ultimately – to create a Netanyahu autocracy. At any cost.

Photo: zeevveez