Foreign minister: Uproar over Africans’ deportation ‘damaging’

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman on Monday voiced harsh criticism of the uproar over the deportation of South Sudanese migrants, arguing that opponents of operation “Returning Home” are not considering Israel’s national interests.

“It has been a long time since I have seen chatter that is as damaging as this uproar around the return of the South Sudanese to their country,” Liberman said on Monday, during a meeting of the Yisrael Beytenu faction in the Knesset.

The foreign minister also took credit for the solutions that the government has found for the problem of illegal African migrants in Israel, saying: “All that we have solved is thanks to the Foreign Ministry, and not thanks to anyone else.”

On Sunday night, 127 South Sudanese citizens were flown to Juba, South Sudan, in the first flight of operation “Returning Home.” Another flight is scheduled for next week.

Liberman called the hubbub around the flight “a festival.” His remarks were seen as a dig against Interior Minister Eli Yishai, who showed up at the airport Sunday night to deliver a speech.

Liberman also slammed opponents of the deportation: “I heard someone talking about Israel’s national interest. There are many who sacrifice the national interest for the fleeting interests of one faction or another. I cannot recall an outcry on the part of Israel’s allies, including the United States, like the one that occurred in this case.”

On June 7, a Jerusalem court approved the deportation of South Sudanese nationals who entered the country illegally. The Population, Immigration and Borders Authority announced shortly thereafter that South Sudanese would have one week to turn themselves in and leave the country, or be deported by force.

Migrants from South Sudan who agree to leave Israel of their own accord — as did the 127 who were flown out on Sunday — have been promised financial assistance of 1,000 euros (approximately $1,250) from the government and a plane ticket home.

There are roughly 1,500 South Sudanese in Israel, a small percentage of the estimated 60,000-70,000 African migrants, mostly from Eritrea and Sudan proper, who are known to have entered the country illegally.

Over the past month, tensions have been running particularly high between Israelis and illegal African migrants, resulting in large demonstrations and occasionally degenerating into violence, most notably in the Hatikvah neighborhood of south Tel Aviv.

More than 600 migrants have crossed into Israel illegally so far in June, Channel 2 reported on Sunday.