Jewish Agency urges Israel to grant asylum to 500 young African migrants

In a letter to Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, the Jewish Agency for Israel board urges him to “grant legal status to the more than five hundred young migrants who arrived in Israel years ago as unaccompanied minors and were integrated in the education system of youth villages operated by The Jewish Agency and the Ministry of Education.”

“These youngsters have grown up in an Israeli educational environment, speak fluent Hebrew, are imbued with Israeli culture, and are loyal to the State of Israel,” the board says, according to a statement. “Therefore, it is right that they be granted legal status.”

Israel recently launched a campaign to deport unmarried male Eritrean and Sudanese migrants to African countries (widely reported to be Rwanda and Uganda) with jail time facing those who refuse to go. Approximately half of the 38,000 asylum seekers could be deported under the plan. Women, married men, and children will not be deported under “the first stage” of the deportations, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said.

The Jewish Agency also called on the government to ensure “every migrant has an opportunity to apply for asylum and receive transparent due process in the examination of their application.”

Israel has maintained that most asylum seekers do not actually face persecution at home and have traveled to Israel seeking jobs and a higher standard of living.