Netanyahu says African migrants who remain will be sent to kibbutzim

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that thousands of African migrants who are allowed to stay in the country instead of being deported, as was previously planned, will be removed from Tel Aviv, where they currently reside, and sent to kibbutzim, and other communities.

In a Hebrew-language video posted to his Facebook page Netanyahu defends the newly unveiled plan that drew criticism from Education Minister Naftali Bennett and residents of south Tel Aviv, who have been campaigning for the removal of tens of thousands of African migrants housed in their neighborhood.

“I am a full partner in the desire to get all of the infiltrators out of here,” Netanyahu says. “But sometimes there are surprises. The third country didn’t stand up to the pressure, and it withdrew from the agreement. Therefore, I needed to get a new deal, even better. It removes 16,000 people, in contrast to the deal with a third country that would have removed 14,000.”

Netanyahu says that the migrants who remain will be removed from south Tel Aviv and sent to agricultural communities, kibbutzim, to “strong communities, so that the burden will not fall on the weaker neighborhoods.”