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August 2, 2012

Israel Deports Refugees Who Fled Violence in Ivory Coast

(TriceEdneyWire.com)  – Israel is deporting African refugees from the Ivory Coast as anti-immigrant fever sweeps the Middle East country that once welcomed asylum seekers fleeing wars abroad.

On June 7, a Jerusalem court overturned a long-standing policy, ruling that Ivory Coast citizens were no longer at risk in their homeland. This cleared the way for the expulsion of what rights groups say is 700 Ivorians. Israeli officials put the number at about 1,500.

The ruling came coincidentally as Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara was meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"Illegal" immigration was on the agenda, and Ouattara agreed that "illegal" immigrants should return home. However, he disputed Israel's refugee numbers.

"So far we have managed to reduce the number of [our] refugees around the world to around 60,000, and we hope that they will return to Côte d'Ivoire in the coming months," he said.

"To me, it's quite humiliating to see African citizens trying to reach another country at almost any price," he added. "It's terrible to see African youth trying to cross the sea and drowning on the way to Europe."

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