There is nothing new that we haven’t written about here at RRW in recent years, but it’s a short and handy reminder of what is happening in Africa and the Middle East and some new readers may not know that black Africans, even the ones who are Muslim, are not liked by Arabs.
Fences make good neighbors! Israel built a border fence along its Egyptian border. Photo by Eliyahu Hershkovitz at Haaretz
Black African refugees in Egypt are frustrated by ongoing racism and discrimination, particularly as they witness the assistance given to Arab refugees, the pan-Arab Aljazeera network reports.
Sources told the network that they have few rights in Egypt. “Even if you’re a recognized refugee, and you have a blue card, you have no right to medical treatment, no right to education, no right to work,” NGO programmer Christopher Eades explained.
Aid worker and refugee Yagoub Hamdan told Aljazeera, “When there was an influx of African refugees, there was no attention from the NGOs.” But when Syrian refugees began to arrive, he said, the United Nations took notice, and built camps for them.
So, the Africans went to Israel in large numbers (see our category on Israel and refugees) until they wore out their welcome and Israel built a border fence.
In recent years, African Muslim refugees in Egypt increasingly began fleeing to Israel, which provides illegal entrants with several social services. High crime among Sudanese and Eritrean migrants, particularly high-profile incidents of violent rape and anti-Semitism, led to a backlash against Israeli policy.
In recent months the government completed a border fence that has contributed to a massive drop in illegal entry from Egypt.
Mustafa Ibrahim, a researcher for the Independent Commission for Citizens’ Rights, told Al-Monitor that eight citizens were killed in the Gaza Strip in May. The deaths were the result of family disputes, robberies, tunnel collapses and suicides.
He pointed out that the commission observed a significant increase in the rate of violence in the West Bank and Gaza from the beginning of the year until April compared to the same period last year.
He added that about 61 people were killed in Gaza and the West Bank because of family disputes, misuse of weapons, tunnel collapses on the border with Egypt, apartment building collapses and the lack of safety measures in industrial workshops and other places.
Wait for it! You knew it would be in the article somewhere!
Ibrahim said that the crime rate is related to the living conditions, particularly in Gaza. He said that the high unemployment rate, the Israeli blockade and the continual power outages are frustrating the people.
This reminds me, take 5 minutes and watch “We con the World!”from Latma. 2.6 million views to date!
….saying they are “a threat to the long-term viability of the Jewish state.” Yes, they are! I don’t know why people don’t get this point. Mass migration will eventually bring down a country. It will happen more quickly in small countries like Israel or some European countries and more slowly in the US, but it will happen.
Here is my big question—-what is the third country to which these tens of thousands will be sent?
***Update June 8th*** Here is a reportthat says they will be deported to an African country.
We have already seen the erosion of the concept of legitimate refugee protection as in the case of Malta* where the US State Department took off Malta’s hands thousands of illegal (economic) migrants from Africa, transformed them into refugees and sent them to America.
I sure hope Obama didn’t make some deal when he visited Israel and that America is the third country they have in mind!
Israel’s new border fence. That isn’t an illegal alien, just a worker making repairs. Photo: Reuters
Israel plans to expel thousands of African refugees to an unidentified third country, according to a court document obtained Monday, in an initiative that has provoked concerns from human rights groups.
The program is an effort to confront one of Israel’s more persistent problems: What to do with some 60,000 African migrants – the majority from Eritrea and Sudan – who have illegally crossed the border into Israel from Egypt over the past eight years.
During a Supreme Court hearing on Sunday that questioned the legality of detaining asylum-seekers who entered Israel secretly, a government attorney said an agreement to resettle “infiltrators from Eritrea” had been reached with an unidentified third country, according to Reuters.
“There is an arrangement with one country, which will be an end-destination and not a transit point,” the lawyer said, according to a transcript provided by the Justice Ministry on Monday.
There are an estimated 35,000 Eritreans currently living illegally in Israel, but deporting them to their homeland, a state accused of torture last year by the UN human rights chief, is difficult under international law.
Resettling the migrants in another country could also raise legal issues. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says resettlement can only be considered once refugee status has been granted – which Israel has not done – although exceptions can be made.
Under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, states are obligated not to send refugees to countries where they would face physical or political danger. It is unclear whether that requires the convention’s signatories, of which Israel is one, to monitor the refugees indefinitely after they are deported.
Making sure this won’t happen again, Israel builds a border fence!
While the fate of the migrants remains uncertain, Israel has taken rather dramatic steps to stem the influx in illegal immigration. Over the past year, Israel has constructed a barrier along its border with Egypt that has dramatically reduced the number of illegal arrivals. Israel is also incarcerating individuals who attempt to cross into the country while authorities determine whether they are eligible for refugee status.
He is right!
Israel’s plan to deport many of the estimated 60,000 migrants began in earnest in July of last year, when Netanyahu said the African migrants “are seen by many Israelis as a law and order issue and even a threat to the long-term viability of the Jewish state.”
So, what is the third country (one acceptable to the UN)?
For more on the problems Israel is having with illegal migrants, visit our category entitled‘Israel and refugees.’
* For the Malta policy started under the Bush State Department, go here for dozens of posts on the topic.
This is the latest news on the ever-growing conflict between African migrants and the residents of lower income neighborhoods in South Tel Aviv. See our previous post, here.
I sure hope the US isn’t considering extending its Malta doctrine to Israel. What is the Malta doctrine (my name for it)? That is where we take illegal aliens off the hands of another country after declaring they are legitimate refugees when they are largely economic migrants. (Just type ‘Malta’ into our search function and you will see how we have helped to make Malta an even bigger target for illegal aliens to aim for by holding out the hope that getting there is a ticket to America’s streets paved with gold!).
African refugees wait for a job offer near the central bus station in southern Tel Aviv, Israel. Photo by Abir Sultan/EPA/Newscom
Touring South Tel Aviv Tuesday, Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar said that the issue of African migrants is one of the most vexing problems facing Israel, and that the government would keep working to deport illegal migrants to their nations of origin or to third countries.[Heads up! What third countries?—ed]
Billed as his first working tour in his new post, Sa’ar walked around Neve Sha’anan, a low-income and middle-class neighborhood in south Tel Aviv that’s become an epicenter for many of the tens of thousands of African migrants in Israel, to get a firsthand glimpse of the area.
“This is one of the most difficult, sensitive and charged issues Israel has had to deal with,” Sa’ar noted.
One of the main controversies surrounding the migrants is that the government permitted them entry but doesn’t grant them work visas, creating a situation that fosters crime and illegal activity. Residents have become increasingly vocal about their frustration with what they say is the government’s inaction on the issue.
“There’s no life here anymore. Everyone here lives in fear,” one resident said, while others complained that their businesses have greatly suffered in recent years.
“If they are refugees, give them what they deserve. If they’re infiltrators, then deport them,” a resident said as the minister toured.
[…..]
Human rights groups contend Israel isn’t doing enough for the asylum-seekers, including not giving them the right to work, and that it lags behind much of the West in handling cases of migrants seeking asylum. The government, however, claims that many of the migrants aren’t actually refugees but individuals seeking better economic opportunities.[Readers, by definition economic migrants are not refugees or asylum seekers under UN law—ed]
Funny thing how those border fences do work!
The stream of migrants into Israel, which saw tens of thousands enter the country, has slowed to a near-halt since Israel accelerated construction of a much-upgraded fence along the Egyptian border last year.
About the photo: It is from this Jewish Journal article from Januaryreporting that US activists are telling the Israeli government what they should do—let them stay and give them jobs!
I wonder if Obama heard about Israel’s illegal alien problems when he landed there today?
We’ve been reporting the on-going controversy in Israel about African refugees, asylum seekers, illegal aliens (whatever!) coming across Israel’s borders especially now that Egypt has become even more unfriendly to the Jewish state. See our category Israel and Refugees.
Israeli citizens in South Tel Aviv protest the presence of African illegal migrants in May 2012. photo credit: Tomer Neuberg/Flash90
In the past week, things boiled over again when a Sudanese man broke into a home allegedly intending to attack a child.
A Sudanese man broke into a home in the south Tel Aviv neighborhood of Yad Eliyahu at 5 A.M on Wednesday morning and apparently tried to sexually assault an 8-year old girl.
According to an initial investigation, the man entered the home and headed straight to the child’s bedroom, at which point the mother, 40, heard her daughter crying and rushed into the room. She tried to stop the man, who stabbed her in the stomach with a knife and left her with moderate wounds.
When the father heard, he rushed to the room and managed to overpower the assailant, injuring him seriously.
Magen David Adom rescue services arrived after the family called the police and evacuated the man to hospital in unconscious and in serious condition, with injuries to his head. The mother and daughter were also taken to hospital and the daughter is now being examined.
The next day, March 14th, 100 people took to the streets to demonstrate against the presence of the Africans in their neighborhood:
Some 100 people burned a trash bin and blocked a major intersection in south Tel Aviv yesterday to protest the presence there of African migrant workers, following the attempted rape of an 8-year-old girl and stabbing of her mother…
By the way this then sends us back to Haaretz where there wasan article about the demonstration the other day, but it appears to have been taken down. I’m wondering if Haaretz downplayed the demonstration story because it coincided with the release of the Human Rights Report critical of the Netanyahu government which also came out on March 14th?
Just one more incendiary incident in South Tel Aviv
Here is a lengthy article at Al-Monitorcritical of Israel for trying to deport illegal aliens/asylum seekers back to Africa. You can read the whole thing yourself, but here is one segment near the end of the story:
Israeli politicians have been at the forefront of a campaign aiming to expel African asylum seekers from Israel. African refugees have been regularly referred to by politicians, and in media reports, as “infiltrators,” and accused of carrying diseases, stealing and raping Israeli women.
In May 2012, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the presence of African refugees in Israel “is very grave and threatens the social fabric of society, our national security and our national identity.”
Recently, this rhetoric has translated into violence.
Molotov cocktails were thrown at a refugee-run day care center last year, and violent riots broke out during right-wing protests against refugees through South Tel Aviv, an area where many African asylum seekers live. Asylum seekers have also been attacked in streets throughout the country.
On the same day as the alleged attempted rape last week, Human Rights Watch released a critical report on the Israeli government’s attempt to send “asylum seekers” back to Africa.
Human Rights Watch and the Hotline for Migrant Workers released a report on Wednesday stating that Israel is threatening detained Eritrean and Sudanese nationals, including asylum-seekers, with prolonged detention to pressure them to leave Israel.
The report said that since December 11, 2012, “Israel’s pressure has convinced several hundred detained Sudanese and one Eritrean to leave Israel, and in February 2013, some 50 detained Eritreans agreed under similar pressure to leave for Uganda.”
According to the report, all 50 of the detained Eritreans remain in detention.
HRW and the Hotline for Migrant Workers said that Sudanese and Eritreans face a real risk of harm if they return to their home countries.
The report said that under Sudanese law, anyone who has visited Israel faces up to 10 years in prison in Sudan and Sudanese officials have said the courts will apply the law.
Next, the report stated that because of “credible persecution fears relating to punishment for evading indefinite military service in Eritrea, 80 percent of Eritrean asylum seekers worldwide are granted some form of protection.”
“Israel’s prolonged detention of asylum-seekers apparently aims to shatter all hope so they feel they have no real choice but to leave the country,” said Gerry Simpson, senior refugee researcher at Human Rights Watch.
It is happening everywhere in the world—the third world wants in to the first world plain and simple. The first world has to say NO! at some point or ultimately risk collapse. I think we have reached that point.
About the photo: The photo and its accompanying story can be found here at The Times of Israel published in December 2012.
