Second plane of migrants to depart to South Sudan

One week after the first group of 127 South Sudanese migrants left Israel to return to their home, Israel is set to expel an additional 150 South Sudanese as part of its campaign to reduce the number of African migrants who entered the Jewish state illegally.

According to Interior Ministry spokeswoman Sabine Hadad, the second flight is scheduled to depart around midnight Monday. The Ethiopian Airlines plane will fly from Ben Gurion International Airport to the South Sudanese capital of Juba.

Yedioth Ahronoth reported that sources within the Interior Ministry said that only migrants who have agreed to leave the country voluntarily will be on the Monday night flight. However, friends of many who will be on the flight have said that the migrants “chose” to leave because the only other option available to them was to sit in an Israeli prison.

One Sudanese migrant, who has been living and working in Tel Aviv for seven years, was quoted in Yedioth as saying that “the situation in south Tel Aviv is now worse than the situation in South Sudan. We are not allowed to work, so we cannot pay rent, and we are liable to be arrested at any time.”

Authorities have offered the migrants cash to leave voluntarily and threatened them with arrest if they don’t.

Some 60,000 Africans, mostly from Eritrea and Sudan, have slipped into Israel from Egypt since 2005. The influx has concerned officials and caused friction with Israeli locals.

Most of the migrants fled repressive regimes and Israel cannot expel them. Earlier this month, authorities began rounding up migrants from South Sudan, which has friendly relations with Israel and can be expected to treat its returnees reasonably well.

While there has been a lot of pressure for Israeli authorities to expel illegal migrants, many politicians are calling for the distinction between “migrants” and “refugees.”

On Sunday, the Jerusalem District Court rejected a petition by 132 migrants from the Ivory Coast requesting refugee status due to the dangerous conditions in the country. Citing a 2011 Interior Ministry declaration that the Ivory Coast is not a dangerous country, and its citizens cannot seek asylum in Israel, the court ruled in favor of deporting the Ivorians illegally residing in Israel.

When the first plane load of South Sudanese departed last week, Interior Minister Eli Yishai (Shas) said that “refugees” will stay in Israel, and added, “We know what a refugee is.”

Also on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Cabinet ministers that Israel will begin enforcing long-term imprisonment for illegal migrants as part of a nationwide crackdown on Africans residing without permission in Israel.

Netanyahu said: “Every infiltrator who crosses the border and sits and waits for a bus to take him to Tel Aviv will be imprisoned for three years.”

The prime minister also told the assembled ministers that work on the security fence along the Israel-Egypt border is progressing: “This week will see 190 kilometers of the [240 kilometer-] fence completed. The section in Eilat, which we thought would take more time, is moving along and being built quickly.”

On Monday morning, the Eritrean ambassador to Israel addressed the Special Committee on Foreign Workers in the Knesset saying that his country will not take back any Eritrean citizens who do not wish to return. “Whoever wants to come home, will be welcome ” said Tesfamariam Tekeste Debbas. “But anybody that does not want to return, as far as we are concerned should stay in Israel.” The envoy added that Eritrea “respects the decision of those do not wish to return.”