A plane carrying a group of 123 South Sudanese migrants took off from
Ben-Gurion Airport late Sunday night on its way to Juba. It was the
first such flight to leave Israel as part of "Operation Going Home,"
in which authorities plan to deport South Sudanese in Israel.
The South Sudanese men, women, and children were processed for their
flights earlier behind mounds of suitcases inside Ben-Gurion
Airport’s Terminal 1. They were joined on the charter flight by four
members of a South Sudan diplomatic delegation that came to Israel
last Thursday to oversee the administration of the deportations and
meet with local members of the South Sudanese community in Israel.
Earlier on Sunday, Interior Minister Eli Yishai said the deportation
of the 700- 1,500 South Sudanese in Israel barely scratches the
surface of solving the migrant problem facing the country.
Yishai said the real problem “is with Eritrea that has 30,000 people
[in Israel] and north Sudan with 15,000,” adding that he hopes “that
the legal obstacles to this will be lifted soon and we can expel them
as well.”
Yishai admitted that the South Sudanese make up only a “drop within a
drop” of the 60,000 or so African migrants in Israel, but added that
deporting them is a “national interest” and that if he “has to chose
between the interests of Israel and the interests of the Sudanese, I
will choose Israel.”
Currently Israel cannot legally deport migrants from Sudan, an enemy
state where they would stand to face persecution upon return, or
Eritreans, who are citizens of a police state and would potentially
be in grave danger if sent back. As a result, both groups are granted
group protection status and cannot be deported, giving them de-facto
refugee status without the rights that refugee status affords.
Gidon Cohen, the head of the encouragement of willful repatriation
department of the Population, Immigration and Border Authority, said
that each South Sudanese adult received $1,300 in cash, with an
additional $500 for each minor traveling with them. They were also
given vaccines against diseases common to Sub-Saharan Africa.
Cohen said each passenger was allowed to carry 30kg. of luggage. Many
of the suitcases clogging up the entry to Terminal 1 were left by
families who had exceeded their luggage limit, and Cohen said he had
no idea if the luggage would be shipped to them or remain behind in
Israel.
The first leg of the deportation of the South Sudanese community of
Israel began early Sunday morning, when a bus full of South Sudanese
left Eilat to make its way to the airport. It was followed by a bus
leaving Arad at 9 a.m., while the rest of the deportees left from the
Tel Aviv Central Bus Station at midday.
Escorted by friends and trailed by cameramen and reporters, dozens of
South Sudanese men, women, and children filled into buses on the
seventh floor of the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station. As they loaded
their bags onto the bus in the midday sun, the migrants described a
mixture of feelings. While many spoke of anger towards the anti-
migrant atmosphere in Israel and the arrests that accompanied the
deportations, others spoke of relief that the deportation saga is
coming to an end and happiness about finally returning to their
homeland, a new country that did not exist when they fled years
earlier.
Andrew Akolawine smiled on the pavement at the bus station,
saying “I’ve been here for five years and I’m happy to be going back.
You know in any circle, you must end at the point where you start. I
started there [South Sudan] and I will finish there, this is enough.”
Akolawine, a father of four, spoke warmly of the Israeli friends he’d
made over his years in the country, but added that recent anti-
migrant statements by Israeli politicians had soured his opinion of
Israel.
Still, he cracked, “I’m very proud that I am part of a people Israel
thinks are so important that they don’t talk about the Palestinians
anymore, just us.”
One South Sudanese man facing eviction next week came to bid farewell
to some of his friends, and sounded far more bitter towards the
deportations.
“I need to say to Israel thank you, you don’t want any black people
only whites.
When I go back to there, maybe I’ll work in the interior ministry and
I will remember well what was done to us.”
He added “I remember growing up reading the Bible thinking Israel is
people who help each other... we ran to Israel and we realized that
it’s not Israel any longer, it’s just like Russia, Iraq, Egypt.”
Orit Marom of the Assaf NGO, which assists African migrants, called
Sunday “a day of shame,” saying that Israel’s Interior Ministry “has
trampled on the honor of great friends of Israel, the South
Sudanese.” Marom added “the South Sudanese, unlike Eli Yishai, have a
big heart and they forgive him.”
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed the deportations during
Sunday’s cabinet meeting, saying “today the government will begin the
operation to repatriate illegal work infiltrators to their countries
of origin. We will do this is an orderly and dignified manner.”
Netanyahu also spoke of the government’s efforts to stop the entry of
further illegal migrants by finishing construction of the border
fence, finishing detention facilities for illegal migrants and using
diplomatic steps to find third countries to take in African asylum
seekers.
On June 7, the Jerusalem District Court rejected a petition by human
rights groups opposed to the deportation of South Sudanese, saying
the NGOs did not prove that the South Sudanese would be in physical
danger if they were returned home. Though assurances were made that
the migrants would be given a week to prepare for deportation, three
days later immigration officials began arresting South Sudanese
across the country.
