Between 2005 and 2014, approx­i­mate­ly 70,000 asy­lum-seek­ing refugees from Sudan and Eritrea entered Israel. This, along with the high­ly pub­li­cised anti-African immi­grant riots in Israel in 2012 and 2014, has meant that the issue of African migra­tion is now extreme­ly con­tro­ver­sial in Israel. Gilad Ben-Nun looks at this phe­nom­e­non, and com­pares it to the debates sur­round­ing the Pales­tin­ian refugees in the region and the con­cept of their right of return. He argues that this new­er, African migra­tion issue has forced Israel to move from con­ceiv­ing of itself as an ​‘excep­tion­al’ state and now has to view itself as a more ​‘nor­mal’ and ​‘uni­ver­sal’ enti­ty. By high­light­ing this shift, he ties the prob­lems which the Israeli polit­i­cal and judi­cial sys­tems (as well as soci­ety) have to wider themes of migra­tion and iden­ti­ty in the wider region.