From the Liveblog of
Friday, August 7, 2026
Netanyahu’s ex-chief of staff says apparent call from relative led PM to abruptly nix refugee deal
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s former chief of staff says that in 2018, a brief phone call the premier received from someone in his home led him to abruptly cancel a landmark refugee deal with the UN, moments after announcing the agreement in a televised statement.
Yoav Horowitz, also a former director-general of the Prime Minister’s Office, makes the comments in an interview with Channel 13 news, from which a snippet was aired last night and which is set to air in full tonight.
Last month, Horowitz left Netanyahu’s Likud Party and joined Gadi Eisenkot’s opposition Yashar party.
The deal in question was intended as a compromise to address the population of African migrants and asylum seekers in Israel. Under the deal, 16,250 migrants would be resettled in Western countries while an equal number would remain in Israel. The presence of the migrants in Israel, and especially in south Tel Aviv, where many were based, was a festering political issue in Israel.
But hours after announcing the agreement, Netanyahu reversed course and announced that it would be frozen, in the face of blowback from right-wing voices that objected to the migrants’ presence in the country.
In the interview with Channel 13, Horowitz says that Netanyahu’s about-face occurred following a call “from home” — apparently a reference to one of Netanyahu’s relatives — and just moments after he announced the deal.
“We’re returning [from the announcement],” Horowitz says. “And he gets a call from home, and as he’s walking, we get to the office, he turns and tells me, ‘Yoav, tell them it’s canceled, I changed my mind.'”
In a statement responding to Horowitz’s remarks, Likud does not address his account and says, “Everyone already knows the strategy: Whoever is looking for an embrace from the media knows well what they need to do — to smear the Netanyahu family.”
The statement goes on to accuse Horowitz of joining the political left, noting his presence at anti-government protests in Tel Aviv.
The Times of Israel Community.