Netanyahu cancels UN deal to resettle African migrants

African migrants and Israelis demonstrate in the city of Tel Aviv on April 3, 2018, against the Israeli government's policy to forcibly deport African refugees and asylum seekers. (AFP)

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled an agreement with the UN on Tuesday to resettle thousands of African migrants after pressure from hawks in his coalition prompted him earlier to suspend it.
Netanyahu suddenly announced he was suspending the deal Monday night, just hours after touting it on national television, until he could meet with Israeli residents of south Tel Aviv, areas with large migrant populations who feel slighted by the deal.
After meeting with residents on Tuesday Netanyahu said he had weighed the pros and cons and he “decided to cancel the agreement.” The move came after pressure from Netanyahu’s nationalist allies who lashed out against the deal.
Naftali Bennett, leader of the nationalist Jewish Home party, tweeted shortly before Netanyahu’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. Its approval would cause generations of crying and determine a precedent in Israel granting residency for illegal infiltrators.” Netanyahu had announced Monday afternoon that 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 the suspension outside the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem and government offices in Tel Aviv as Netanyahu met with the neighborhood representatives. Some protesters stripped to the waist, draped themselves with chains and taped their mouths shut at a protest in Tel Aviv.