Israel’s African migrants in limbo after Netanyahu reversal
TEL AVIV, Israel — Halofom Sultan went from being jailed in his native Eritrea for opposing the oppressive government to detention in Israel, where he is seeking asylum after fleeing for his life.
So when Israel’s prime minister announced a deal with the United Nations on Monday to resettle tens of thousands of African migrants, Sultan was hopeful.
“There was a little light,” he said. But hours later, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu backtracked, cancelling the deal and casting Sultan’s future, and those of thousands of others, once again into uncertainty.
Netanyahu’s stunning reversal was just the latest twist in a policy that has careened from detentions to deportations as Israel struggles with how to deal with the migrants. The country’s 35,000 African migrants have been at the receiving end of those decisions, and the scrapping of the U.N. deal means they must now wait for the next decree by Israel’s government to know their fate.