The Tel Aviv District Court on Sunday ordered a stay of the deportation order against Ghana citizen Joel Mema Manar. Manar made headlines in April when his daughter's kindergarten classmates and their parents staged a public protest against his impending deportation.

Manar asked the court to appear before the interministerial committee charged with deciding on humanitarian exceptions to deportation. He wants to remain in Israel until he, his Filipina wife Ramdius Kizagan, and their three-year-old daughter Marlay find a country that will take them in.

Judge Nissim Yeshaya rejected Manar's request to appear before the interministerial committee on the grounds that the Interior Ministry had not yet decided the case.

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However, he criticized the Interior Ministry for trying to block Manar's access to the committee, and ordered Manar's deportation stayed until October 31.

Manar's lawyer, Tal Prushan, plans to tell the committee that the family has no immigration options at present, since the couple fears they will not be accepted by either the Philippines or Ghana, and that Marlay has not yet recovered from the trauma of witnessing her father's arrest.