Tens of thousands of Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers are facing an impossible choice in Israel: deportation to a country where their lives will be in danger or indefinite imprisonment. No one should have to make that choice. 

Despite an April 1st deadline, these cruel deportations are happening right now. Turkish Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines and Royal Jordanian Airlines are all carrying asylum seekers out of Israel and dropping them into places where their lives are in danger. This disgusting profiteering needs to stop.  

These airlines need to take a stand and support asylum seekers instead of profiting off these racist and cruel deportations, which target exclusively African asylum seekers. A huge outcry now could keep these families from choosing between prison and deportation to a country where their lives are in danger. 

Turkish Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines and Royal Jordanian Airlines are key airlines for the Middle East and Africa.  It’s disgusting that these airlines are taking business from the Israeli government to perpetuate this tragedy of mass deportations of the world’s most vulnerable.  

Local activists, including our friends at Zazim Community Action, are fiercely fighting these deportations on the ground and have already gotten almost 150 pilots and aircrew members to agree not to pilot flights for deportations. Now we need to let the airlines know that profiting off these cruel deportations is not alright. 

SumOfUs is no stranger to taking on major airlines. When Cecil the Lion was killed over 265,000 caring members liked you stepped up and signed a petition calling on major airlines to ban the transportation of animal trophies. And it worked -- within a month 12 major airlines had banned the practice. This fight is even more important as it’s affecting tens of thousands of human lives, so please take action now.