Israel's African Purge Continues: Black Immigrants Ordered to Self Deport within 2 Weeks
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In photo, surging street violence against African migrants in Israel including a rampage in May that an Israeli broadcaster dubbed a "pogrom." Waving Israeli flags and chanting "Deport the Sudanese", residents of a low-income Tel Aviv neighbourhood where many blacks from Eritrea, Sudan and South Sudan live held a march that turned violent. Violence against blacks has been a recurring problem. Ironically, to the anti-Semitic Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, Jews were an inferior race, an alien threat to German racial (white) purity and community.
From [HERE] Israel on Thursday gave illegal immigrants from Ivory Coast two weeks to leave the country, the latest step in its crackdown on Africans who have entered the country unlawfully. “Whoever leaves in this period will receive a $500 stipend, those who do not will be sent away,” said Interior Minister Eli Yishai. Israel has been alarmed by an influx of migrants from Africa through its border with Egypt, and this month it began weekly airlifts to deport a few hundred South Sudanese. The ministry said there were around 2,000 Ivorians in the country illegally, out of a total of some 60,000 African migrants who Israel says are mostly job seekers and threaten to upset the nation’s demographics. Africans comprise less than 1% of Israel's entire population.
Interior Minister Eli Yishai released a statement directed towards Ivorian immigrants. “You have two weeks to leave,” he said. “Whoever does so will be eligible for a subsidy. Whoever does not will be thrown out.”
Subsidies of $500 will be provided to Ivorian adults, and $100 for each of their children, Yishai said. Those who do not leave, however, will be imprisoned.
On Sunday, the Jerusalem District Court rejected a petition requesting refugee status for Ivorians. Yishai went on to say that the decision would help restore “a sense of security to the residents of Israeli neighborhoods.”
Many Jewish Israelis have objected to Israel’s mass deportations of African immigrants. Because Israel was founded by immigrants and war refugees, they argue, the state must have compassion for those who are seeking refuge from persecution.
Violence surged in the streets of Tel Aviv as a 1000-strong protest against African immigrants seeking asylum in Israel turned violent.
Last month, the homes and restaurants of several Sudanese and Eritreansin south Tel Aviv were attacked by mobs of right-wing protesters following anti-immigrant speeches delivered by several Israeli Knesset members. (in photo, Racist Mob, Incited by Israeli Leaders, Attacks African Refugees in Tel Aviv [MORE] and [MORE].)
Several nongovernmental organizations and humanitarian agencies have urged the Israeli government to renew the refugee status of Ivorians, citing UN reports that indicate the persistence of widespread political violence and instability in Ivory Coast.
Yishai and many Israeli politicians argue that illegal African workers are a burden on the economy.
Jabr Basal, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, told Bikyamasr.com that the decision was an example of the deep-rooted racism that characterizes the government and its supporters.
“Racism is the point of departure for a government founded on ethnic and religious identity,” he started.
“On one hand, it is a way to deflect attention from the problems of Arab Palestinians and their continued persecution by the state.”
Most illegal entrants their families travel in brutal conditions through the Egyptian Sinai in order to enter Israel. Many die during the journey, or are shot by Egyptian border guards. The Israeli government is presently building a security barrier on the border with the Sinai that will stretch nearly 200 kilometers.
