Israel backs down from refugee resettlement plan

Hours after announcing an agreement with the United Nations refugee agency to resettle thousands of African migrants in Western nations, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday scrapped the deal. The agreement was scheduled to resettle about half of the 35,000 migrants to countries such as Canada, Italy, and Germany. The remaining migrants would stay in Israel. But Netanyahu scrapped the deal after meeting with residents of Tel Aviv, where the majority of the migrants live. “I have listened carefully to the many comments on the agreement,” he said, according to a statement from his office. “As a result, and after I again weighed the advantages and disadvantages, I decided to cancel the deal.” The Monday announcement follows Israel’s initial plan to send the migrants to other developing countries in exchange for cash payments. Rights groups and activists protested that move and condemned it as illegal.