Sudanese migrants in Israel fear deportation after coup

Sudanese asylum-seekers in Israel fear last year's normalization agreement between their new host country and Sudan could result in them being sent home

JERUSALEM -- For nearly 10 years, Monim Haroon has only known one home: Israel. Like thousands of Sudanese migrants, he lives and works without legal status, fearing that a return to his native land would be a death sentence.

Israel's normalization of ties with Sudan, announced last year, had raised fears among the migrants that they would lose their migrant status and be forced to return. Now, weeks after a military coup derailed Sudan's transition to democracy, they dread being forcibly returned to a country under the full control of generals blamed for past atrocities.

“I am not against normalization," said Haroon. "But the normalization should be through the civilian Sudanese government, not the military powers that now control Sudan.”

The asylum-seekers' plight points to one of the less savory aspects of the so-called Abraham Accords, a series of deals reached between Israel and four Arab countries last year. The U.S.-brokered agreements with Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco — widely hailed as a breakthrough in Mideast diplomacy — were struck with unelected Arab leaders with little tolerance for dissent who were richly rewarded by the Trump administration.