PM Netanyahu explains mass expulsion had to be nixed, best compromise achieved
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explained at a press conference on the cancellation of the expulsion of asylum seekers that the reason the plan was nixed was because Rwanda, which he called "the third country," did not meet the conditions to absorb the asylum seekers, as was initially intended, and collapsed under the international pressure exerted on it.
"From the moment that it became clear in the last few weeks that the third country as an option does not exist, we in effect entered a trap that meant all of them would stay."
Netanyahu added that the agreement with the UN, as it currently stands, came following strenuous political efforts on their part, noting that at first the UN wanted Israel to keep four asylum seekers as temporary residents for every one deported.
"We did not agree to this, and in the end reached an agreement whereby for each one who leaves, one will remain," he said.
