Zionist Union to support deportations of migrants — report

The Zionist Union party will reportedly back a government plan to expand the deportations of African migrants to a third country.

The change of stance for the opposition party was initiated by leader Avi Gabbay, according to Haaretz.

Twelve of the party’s MKs, including Tzipi Livni and opposition leader Isaac Herzog, supported the measure, the report said. Eight other lawmakers were opposed, in a vote held during the weekly faction meeting.

“We don’t need to be more righteous than the High Court,” Gabbay was quoted as saying, referring to a decision in August that authorized the deportations to Rwanda and Uganda, while banning unlimited detentions of the migrants, who are largely from Sudan and Eritrea.

“We will pay a heavy price for opposing the law,” Gabbay reportedly acknowledges. “It won’t look good to the public.”