Tens of thousands of African migrants have marched in the city of Tel Aviv to protest against their treatment by the Israeli government. The protesters, mostly Eritreans and Sudanese, are angry about a law that allows illegal immigrants to be detained for a year without trial."We are all refugees" and "Yes to freedom, no to prison!" they chanted.
The protest was prompted by the new law on detention, which had dashed hopes that a recent crackdown would be halted. The migrants, some of whom have been in Israel for years and have taken low-paid jobs, say they are all refugees who have fled persecution and conflict back home in Eritrea and Sudan. They say their only choice will be either to spend time in prison in Israel or agree to return home. The dangers in their home countries mean they cannot be forcibly returned. Instead of considering their cases and providing safe haven to those who deserve it, why does the Israeli government criminalize them, contain them and try to kick them out as soon as possible? Instead of hearing the horror stories of forced labor and ethnic cleansing recounted by these asylum-seekers when they managed to reach Israel's borders they were met by a powerful propaganda machine that inflamed anti-African sentiment, well oiled from decades of instilling in the hearts of Israelis a fear of Palestinians, other Arabs and non-Jews in general.
The Africans that have arrived in Israeli in recent years do not claim to trace their ancestry to ancient Israelites, nor do they claim to practice a variant of the religion written about in the Bible. In other democracies, neither of these are necessary to make a case for immigration, and that is why asylum-seekers from the same nations as those who have entered Israel are granted refugee status by the United States and the European Union in over 80% of cases. To nullify any empathy their tales of torture would elicit, the Israeli government claims that more than 99% of these Africans experienced no persecution at all, and that they only came to the country to make more money than they would have at home. It has refused to review almost all applications for refugee status – and then claims that this is evidence that almost all don't deserve it. It won't allow almost any Africans to work – and then claims that their resulting widespread poverty is evidence that they are a blight on Israeli society. It won't grant them access to nearly any medical services - and then claims that they pose a major health risk. Israel's Minister of Internal Security has acknowledged that official police statistics show that the crime rate of African asylum-seekers is significantly lower than that of native Israelis. But other government officials latch onto any crime committed by any asylum-seeker – and then claim that Africans are predisposed to criminality. In any other modern democracy, this would be recognized as incitement to racial hatred of the worst kind. In Israel, it's just populist politics.
Ultra-Orthodox MP Eli Yishai said the migrants had been encouraged by "anti-Zionist human rights organisations". He told the Maariv daily the protest was "a sharp and clear cry for the state of Israel and judicial and law enforcement authorities to apply all the means at their disposal to return the infiltrators to their countries". He is quoted in 2012 saying ““Most of the people coming here are Moslems who think the land doesn’t belong to us at all, to the white man.”“
Eli Yishai is Israel’s Jean-Marie Le Pen - with a beard, heading the ugly front against foreign workers, describing them as a "demographic threat," an "assimilation danger" and an "infringement on the state's Jewish identity.", the language of Nazi Germany. He has found that inciting his voters against foreigners - the weakest and most oppressed - is a sure recipe for electoral success, he has cynically become more extreme. He is encouraging open racism and nationalism , poisoning generations of Mizrahim (Jews of Middle Eastern descent) and young ultra-Orthodox.
Ironically, Eli Yishai parents came to Israel from Tunisia which is in AFRICA.
The protest was prompted by the new law on detention, which had dashed hopes that a recent crackdown would be halted. The migrants, some of whom have been in Israel for years and have taken low-paid jobs, say they are all refugees who have fled persecution and conflict back home in Eritrea and Sudan. They say their only choice will be either to spend time in prison in Israel or agree to return home. The dangers in their home countries mean they cannot be forcibly returned. Instead of considering their cases and providing safe haven to those who deserve it, why does the Israeli government criminalize them, contain them and try to kick them out as soon as possible? Instead of hearing the horror stories of forced labor and ethnic cleansing recounted by these asylum-seekers when they managed to reach Israel's borders they were met by a powerful propaganda machine that inflamed anti-African sentiment, well oiled from decades of instilling in the hearts of Israelis a fear of Palestinians, other Arabs and non-Jews in general.
The Africans that have arrived in Israeli in recent years do not claim to trace their ancestry to ancient Israelites, nor do they claim to practice a variant of the religion written about in the Bible. In other democracies, neither of these are necessary to make a case for immigration, and that is why asylum-seekers from the same nations as those who have entered Israel are granted refugee status by the United States and the European Union in over 80% of cases. To nullify any empathy their tales of torture would elicit, the Israeli government claims that more than 99% of these Africans experienced no persecution at all, and that they only came to the country to make more money than they would have at home. It has refused to review almost all applications for refugee status – and then claims that this is evidence that almost all don't deserve it. It won't allow almost any Africans to work – and then claims that their resulting widespread poverty is evidence that they are a blight on Israeli society. It won't grant them access to nearly any medical services - and then claims that they pose a major health risk. Israel's Minister of Internal Security has acknowledged that official police statistics show that the crime rate of African asylum-seekers is significantly lower than that of native Israelis. But other government officials latch onto any crime committed by any asylum-seeker – and then claim that Africans are predisposed to criminality. In any other modern democracy, this would be recognized as incitement to racial hatred of the worst kind. In Israel, it's just populist politics.
Ultra-Orthodox MP Eli Yishai said the migrants had been encouraged by "anti-Zionist human rights organisations". He told the Maariv daily the protest was "a sharp and clear cry for the state of Israel and judicial and law enforcement authorities to apply all the means at their disposal to return the infiltrators to their countries". He is quoted in 2012 saying ““Most of the people coming here are Moslems who think the land doesn’t belong to us at all, to the white man.”“
Eli Yishai is Israel’s Jean-Marie Le Pen - with a beard, heading the ugly front against foreign workers, describing them as a "demographic threat," an "assimilation danger" and an "infringement on the state's Jewish identity.", the language of Nazi Germany. He has found that inciting his voters against foreigners - the weakest and most oppressed - is a sure recipe for electoral success, he has cynically become more extreme. He is encouraging open racism and nationalism , poisoning generations of Mizrahim (Jews of Middle Eastern descent) and young ultra-Orthodox.
Ironically, Eli Yishai parents came to Israel from Tunisia which is in AFRICA.
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