On Sept. 9, 1969, ~20 Palestinians from Gaza boarded a plane from Israel, believing they were bound for Brazil. They’d…

10 tweets1 min read♥ 9.9Koriginal

Summary

A 1969 Israeli scheme attempted to deport Palestinians from Gaza to Paraguay through fraudulent work programs, expelling about 20 people before being abandoned after an assassination attempt. Decades later, similar deportation schemes have resurfaced targeting Gaza's population through fake aid organizations, continuing a long-standing policy of forced Palestinian emigration.

Summarized by ThreadOut AI from the full thread. May miss nuance — read the thread below.

#1
On Sept. 9, 1969, ~20 Palestinians from Gaza boarded a plane from Israel, believing they were bound for Brazil. They’d signed up through an Israeli travel agency for a work-abroad program promising higher wages than they could find in Gaza. But that’s not what awaited them. 🧵
#2
Instead of Brazil, the plane took them to Paraguay — a country many had never heard of. They were greeted by armed police, given new IDs with random professions, then bused to a far-flung rural area. The work program didn’t exist: They’d been tricked and deported by the Mossad.
#3
The Paraguay Scheme, investigated in a new podcast series by @UncoveringRoots, was the outcome of Israeli gov’t planning after the 1967 War to try to get rid of as many Palestinians as possible from the newly occupied territories. The ambition? Expel 60,000 Gazans to Paraguay.
#4
The plan failed: It was aborted in 1970 after two deportees tried to kill Israel’s ambassador in Paraguay (he survived, but his secretary died). Years later, former officials confirmed that it had been Israeli government policy to “encourage voluntary emigration.” Sound familiar?
#5
The aspiration to expel Gaza’s population was a primary driver of Israel’s genocidal onslaught since October 7, often cloaked in the same language of “voluntary emigration.” When that proved unfeasible, the government resorted to a long forgotten strategy.
#6
Last November, a plane carrying 153 Gazans departed from southern Israel and touched down in Johannesburg. It was no ordinary flight: The passengers had not known their destination, and the plane arrived without prior coordination. Behind it lurked a mysterious group.
#7
“Al-Majd Europe” had advertised its services online, promising safety and medical treatment abroad for $1-3k per passenger. Investigations by Haaretz and AP traced it back to Israel’s Voluntary Emigration Bureau and revealed it to be a front for the far-right group Ad Kan.
#8
Despite these revelations, Al-Majd is still recruiting Gazans for deportation flights, preying on the desperation of those who’ve lost everything. In a tweet earlier this month, it claimed to have “evacuated” over 1,000 Palestinians to countries including Canada and Australia.
#9
Read more in my latest for @972mag here 972mag.com/paraguay-schem…
#10
@972mag Addendum
Ben Reiff@bentreyf · Mar 28, 2026
Hi Hadeel, all the personal photos we received from the podcast producers have been removed — we understood from them that you and Talal had consented to their use, but evidently there was a miscommunication along the way, for which we again apologize. 🧵