Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa is the Minister of Foreign Affairs
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has stated that Ghana’s investigation into Israel’s deportation of three Ghanaians revealed significant inaccuracies in the explanations provided by Israeli authorities.
Speaking on Accra-based JoyFM on Thursday, December 11, 2025, he explained that when Israel’s Chargé d’Affaires was summoned, the justification offered was that Ghana’s embassy officials were allegedly refusing to cooperate in issuing travel certificates for six individuals.
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“We are not going to accept this, particularly when the reason they gave is absolutely untenable. The reason they gave when the Chargé d’affaires was summoned is that authorities in Israel are concerned that our embassy officials are not cooperating and that they have given them a list of six Ghanaians they want travel certificates issued for deportation, and that our embassy officials are not cooperating,” he said.
However, the minister said the ministry’s findings showed that these claims were fundamentally flawed.
Ablakwa revealed that one of the individuals Israel insisted was Ghanaian turned out to be a Gabonese national, confirming that embassy officials were right to exercise caution.
“When we investigated that claim, the Israeli authorities didn’t have their facts right. Indeed, out of those six people on the Israeli list, one is not a Ghanaian. It has been confirmed he is a Gabonese, and so our embassy officials are right to have taken their time to do due diligence,” he disclosed.
Ablakwa noted that another individual on the list had been advised by Israeli doctors not to travel due to ill health.
He added that in yet another case, Israeli authorities had never formally notified the Ghanaian embassy that the person had been arrested or was being considered for deportation.
“Another one on the list is so sick, Israeli doctors say that she should not travel now. She should be cared for and recover before she is put on a flight. One of the others on the list, the travel certificate was long issued, so again, facts are not accurate,” the minister indicated.
“They are not aligning. Then there is another one who our investigations also revealed that the authorities in Israel had not even brought that to the formal attention of the government of Ghana through our embassy. In other words, our embassy did not know that that person had been arrested, and the Israeli authorities want to deport them,” he stated.
Ablakwa added that Ghana had made its position clear that any deportation of its citizens would be met with a proportional response.
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“The Israeli authorities, through the Chargé d’affaires, have now apologised for the action they carried out, and they have called for de-escalation because we made it clear that if they deported 10 Ghanaians, we will deport 10. If they deport 20, we will deport 20; 50 deportations and we will deport 50,” he cautioned.
“The Israelis have called for a de-escalation. We made it clear that if they [Israel] deported 50 Ghanaians, we will deport 50 Israelis.”
– @S_OkudzetoAblak [Minister, Foreign Affairs] #JoySMS pic.twitter.com/vXJxvK0G6D
— Joy 99.7 FM (@Joy997FM) December 11, 2025
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