Israel’s anti-African dragnet tightens.odt

8/10/2019 Israels anti-African dragnet tightens.odt

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Israels anti-African dragnet tightens

Israeli police and immigration ofcers arrest Arican asylum-seekers near

the border with Egypt, 29 June 2!"#$%ren &i'( Acti'e)tills*

+! ecember 2!"

he past year saw some o the most ruthless Israeli attacks on .alestinians

in the /est 0ank and 1aa since the territories were occupied in !934#

Israeli political leadersincited 'iolence against .alestiniansand soldiers and

ci'ilians carried out these commands, while the go'ernment5s parallel waron Arican reugeesraged on#

/hat ollows is the third annuallisto racist ringleaders who ha'e

championed Israel5s e6orts to dri'e all non-Jewish Arican asylum-seekers 7

a community o 8, men, women and children 7 out o the country and

back to the tortures rom which they ed in sub-)aharan Arica#
http://electronicintifada.net/content/israels-anti-african-dragnet-tightens/14157http://electronicintifada.net/people/oren-zivhttp://electronicintifada.net/people/activestillshttp://electronicintifada.net/content/israeli-calls-palestinian-blood-ring-fever-pitch/13578http://electronicintifada.net/tags/african-refugeeshttp://electronicintifada.net/content/racist-ringleaders-2013-israels-war-africans-intensifies/13023http://electronicintifada.net/content/dirty-dozen-israels-racist-ringleaders/11999http://electronicintifada.net/profiles/electronicintifada/themes/intifada_wide/logo.pnghttp://electronicintifada.net/people/oren-zivhttp://electronicintifada.net/people/activestillshttp://electronicintifada.net/content/israeli-calls-palestinian-blood-ring-fever-pitch/13578http://electronicintifada.net/tags/african-refugeeshttp://electronicintifada.net/content/racist-ringleaders-2013-israels-war-africans-intensifies/13023http://electronicintifada.net/content/dirty-dozen-israels-racist-ringleaders/11999http://electronicintifada.net/content/israels-anti-african-dragnet-tightens/14157


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!# :harlie 0iton

he year 2!" began with massi'e protests by asylum-seekersin el A'i'

and Jerusalem, demanding an end to the go'ernment5s war on Aricans#

ens o thousands o Aricans went on strike, hobbling many o theel A'i'

restaurantsthat pro;t o6 o cheap and easy to enesset

rom the@israel 0eiteinu party, and Batan .eleg, the leader o the hardline
http://muftah.org/african-asylum-seekers-go-strike-israel/#.VKA9gACAhttp://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.567383http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.567383http://electronicintifada.net/tags/knessethttp://electronicintifada.net/people/yotam-ronenhttp://electronicintifada.net/people/activestillshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1FvafQ_0cchttp://electronicintifada.net/tags/yisrael-beiteinuhttp://muftah.org/african-asylum-seekers-go-strike-israel/#.VKA9gACAhttp://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.567383http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.567383http://electronicintifada.net/tags/knessethttp://electronicintifada.net/people/yotam-ronenhttp://electronicintifada.net/people/activestillshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1FvafQ_0cchttp://electronicintifada.net/tags/yisrael-beiteinu


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$@otam onen( Acti'e)tills*

To the delight of the audience, !iton, using the popular right-wing slur used against Africans,

accused the sraeli media of "eing "iased in favor of the asylum-seekers# $They have a single

clear o"%ective# to "ring as many infiltrators as possi"le. &veryone that hates Jews will help

them and work with them. They will do everything they can to destroy this country from the

inside.'

It is disappointing when Birahi Jews, who are themsel'es oten the 'ictims

o racism in Israel, make the Arican asylum-seekers their con'enient

scapegoats and demand that they be eocha' olad$the Israeli 'ersion o the

tele'ision show American Idol* and =a5ach =a1adol $the Israeli 'ersion o

reality game show 0ig 0rother*, were also black Jewish women#

0lack people make up appro


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activestills_downloads_img_2.jpg

esidents o south el A'i' and right-wing nationalists call on the

go'ernment to orce Arican asylum-seekers out o Israel during a rally on 8

%ctober 2!"#

$%ren &i'( Acti'e)tills*

n an interviewshe gave to !u((feed)s right-wing reporter *osie +ray, Aynaw trotted out the

typical "aseless sraeli talking points, saying that a lot of the African asylum-seekers $are not

refugees of war.'

E'en worse, she went on to echo the rhetoric o Israel5s most racist political

agitators, characteriing non-Jewish Aricans as sa'age se


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Agencychair atan )haransky was asked about them in an inter'iew# he

ormer deputy prime minister said that Israel cannot automatically gi'e

e'erybody the status o a reugee and treat them as political reugees#H

ather, he said, Jews and others who li'e outside o Israel should donate

money to pro'ide a place or the asylum-seekers in Israel#

)haransky5s proposal to build the Aricans a separate community inthe aDab$ege'* desert was ne'er realied, he said, because Israeli

leaders did not want to pro'ide the asylum-seekers with any comorts at all,

earing that this would entice additional non-Jewish immigrants rom Arica#

0ut his suggestion that others oot the bill or housing the asylum-seekers

was especially outrageous, considering that others already were, to the

tune o hundreds o millions o dollars 7 and his own organiation was

siphoning these o6 or its own sectarian purposes#

In )eptember, I recei'ed a tip which led me to a shocking disclosure# Anobscure item buried in a si< hundred-plus page ) omnibus billre'ealed

that the ) go'ernment was gi'ing Israel tens o millions o dollars e'ery

year or the purposes o resettling reugees $see article "L*#

In'estigati'e workby my colleague, the Israeli blogger known as oam #,

turned up a startling actC the ) go'ernment was gi'ing this money not to

the Israeli go'ernment itsel, but directly to theJewish Agency, a sectarian

organiation dedicated to the welare o Jewish people 7 not Israeli citiens,

regardless o race or religion#

one o these unds 7 which add up to about M+ million in the last

decade alone, asoam # has ound7 were used to ease the burden o

non-Jewish Arican asylum-seekers in Israel, e'en those ew who were

grudgingly granted reugee status# he Jewish Agency, which con;rmed to

oam # that the money is only used or Jewish amilies, contends that it

uses the money to resettle Jews who immigrate to Israel rom danger

ones#H he ) unds constitute about ten percent o the Jewish Agency5s

total budget#

?or the Jewish Agency, pro;ting rom Arican immigration to Israel did notbegin with the non-Jewish asylum-seekers rom Eritrea and )udan# Israeli

social anthropologist .roessor Esther =erog has documentedhow the

Jewish Agency kept Jewish immigrants rom Ethiopia in a cycle o po'erty,

and how the organiation ;nancially bene;ted rom this arrangement#
http://electronicintifada.net/tags/jewish-agencyhttp://www.timesofisrael.com/sharanskys-guide-to-the-regions-human-rights-dilemmas/http://electronicintifada.net/tags/naqabhttp://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-113publ76/pdf/PLAW-113publ76.pdfhttp://www.o139.org/2014/10/blog-post.htmlhttp://electronicintifada.net/tags/jewish-agencyhttp://www.o139.org/2014/12/blog-post.htmlhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=croaiA7i3pohttp://electronicintifada.net/tags/jewish-agencyhttp://www.timesofisrael.com/sharanskys-guide-to-the-regions-human-rights-dilemmas/http://electronicintifada.net/tags/naqabhttp://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-113publ76/pdf/PLAW-113publ76.pdfhttp://www.o139.org/2014/10/blog-post.htmlhttp://electronicintifada.net/tags/jewish-agencyhttp://www.o139.org/2014/12/blog-post.htmlhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=croaiA7i3po


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4# Buli Jeselsohn

/hen Israel is accused o state-sponsored racism or gi'ing preerential

treatment to Jews, some &ionists will acknowledge that this is true# %

these, some belie'e that this ineDuality should be the natural order o

things, while others Nustiy it as a strange orm o global afrmati'e actionH

in which .alestinians must pay or Europe5s history o anti-)emitism#

)ome &ionists, howe'er, deny altogether that gi'ing preerential treatment

to Jews is racist, because, they say, anyone can con'ert to the Jewish

religion, and thereby become eligible or that preerential treatment#

.utting aside the highly problematic second hal o this statement 7

adopting a spiritual practice should ne'er be a condition or eDual

treatment under the law 7 the ;rst hal o the statement is patently alseC

no, not e'eryone can con'ert to Judaism#

nlike :hristianity and Islam, con'erting to %rthodo< Judaism is e


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"ut some at least many do(ens, and likely well over a hundred have petitioned the

government to "e allowed to convert to Judaism. Whether they feel drawn to Jewish spiritual

traditions, or are in a romantic relationship with a Jewish sraeli and want to marry them legally

srael only permits marriages sanctioned "y religious officials/ civil marriages are done

a"road, "arring asylum-seekers from "eing a"le to o"tain one0 or some com"ination of the two,

every single African asylum-seeker that applies to convert to Judaism is "eing summarily

re%ected.

he man responsible or implementing this policy is Israel5s :on'ersion

:arH Buli Jeselsohn# In June, he e


9/17

remo'al o the 'ast maNority o Arican asylum-seekers in the country, who

onlyH escaped ser'itude#

8# )hmulik iman

In ecember 2!, when the Israeli go'ernment was still building the

desert detention centers into which it would later hold thousands o Aricanasylum-seekers, then-Bember o >nesset eu'en i'lincriticiedthese

prospecti'e centers, calling them concentration camps#H

And yet, in January 2!2, i'lin 'oted in a'or o the Anti-In;ltration Oaw

that authoriedH the go'ernment to round Arican asylum-seekers into the

camps# ?ollowing that, in ecember 2!+, ater Israel5s high court Duashed

this law, i'lin again 'oted in a'or o an e'en more draconian 'ersion o

the law which circum'ented the court ruling# In June 2!", the >nesset

elected i'lin as Israel5s president#=ow could someone who once sympathied with the plight o Arican

asylum-seekers later 'ote 7 twiceF 7 to round them into what he had

himsel called concentration campsGH

i'lin5s shit on this issue mirrored that o many Israelis# According to

a pollpublished byIsrael =ayom in January 2!", L percent o Jewish

Israelis now support rounding Arican asylum-seekers out o Israeli cities,

into the internment camps and out o the country#

0road consensus or rounding up the Aricans was achie'ed with a tactic

commonly called problem-reaction-solution#H his method o manipulation

works by creating a social problem, and then using the media to

manuacture the desired reaction amongst the masses# .eople will then

gladly accept a proposed solution which they would ha'e outright reNected

beore the crisis broke#
http://electronicintifada.net/tags/reuven-rivlinhttp://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/knesset-speaker-racist-rabbi-s-letter-shames-the-jewish-people-1.329625http://electronicintifada.net/content/video-israeli-crowd-cheers-africans-called-slaves/12833http://electronicintifada.net/content/video-israeli-crowd-cheers-africans-called-slaves/12833http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=14633http://electronicintifada.net/tags/reuven-rivlinhttp://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/knesset-speaker-racist-rabbi-s-letter-shames-the-jewish-people-1.329625http://electronicintifada.net/content/video-israeli-crowd-cheers-africans-called-slaves/12833http://electronicintifada.net/content/video-israeli-crowd-cheers-africans-called-slaves/12833http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=14633


10/17


Oocal residents and right-wing acti'ists demonstrate against the presence

o Aricans in the south el A'i' neighborhood o =atik'a on !! June 2!"#

he sign readsC he Action :ommittee or E


11/17

desert with nothing to do all day, and sewage rom the comple< is spoiling

the surrounding en'ironment#

he go'ernment has repeatedly said that it wants to deport those

languishing in the detention center back to Arica# 0ut how to get rom the

problem it created to the solution it desiresG

Enter )hmulik iman, mayor o the amat =aege' egional :ouncil, inwhose territory the aorementioned desert detention center is located# In

remarks to Israel :hannel 2, iman warned 'iewersthat unless the

go'ernment gets these in;ltratorsH out o his district, local residents will

begin to beat them up#

ow, as Israel deports the asylum-seekers back to Arica, it can claim that it

is merely responding to the demands o its own citiens, and doing its

utmost to pre'ent the 'igilante 'iolence that it instigated at the outset#

"# ipi Oi'ni

ational elections ha'e now been called or Barch, andipi Oi'niis being

touted by some political pundits as the progressi'e candidate to unseat

.rime Binister 0enNamin etanyahu# 0ut i there is any di6erence to be

ound between Oi'ni and etanyahu, it is only in their rhetoric# Just as

Oi'ni5s policy 'is-P-'is the .alestinians is nearly indistinguishable rom

etanyahu5s, so too is her stance on the issue o Arican asylum-seekers#

In January 2!2, when Oi'ni was in the opposition and the >adima party she

led controlled more seats than any other party in the parliament, she did

not instruct her legislators to 'ote against the ;rst iteration o the

etanyahu go'ernment5s Anti-In;ltration Oaw# % >adima5s twenty-eight

legislators in the !Lth >nesset, only the single $Jewish* Arican Bember o

>nesset and one other lawmaker 'oted against the bill 7 while another

'oted or it $the others did not bother to show up or the 'ote*#

Ater the 2!+ elections, Oi'ni accepted etanyahu5s o6er to head the

Nustice ministry# :harged with this Nob, she should ha'e insisted that the

go'ernment respect the decision o the highest court in the land, when itDuashed the Anti-In;ltration Oaw and demanded the closure o the desert

detention centers where Arican asylum-seekers are held#

Instead, she remained in the go'ernment while it worked uriously to pass

another 'ersion o the law, e'en more draconian than the original# /hen it

came up or a 'ote, her =atnuah action supported its passage in the

plenum#
http://glz.co.il/1087-42082-he/Galatz.aspxhttp://glz.co.il/1087-42082-he/Galatz.aspxhttp://www.mako.co.il/news-israel/education/Article-4a2f75928335641004.htmhttp://electronicintifada.net/tags/tzipi-livnihttp://electronicintifada.net/content/palestine-papers-confirm-israeli-rejectionism/9197http://electronicintifada.net/content/palestine-papers-confirm-israeli-rejectionism/9197http://glz.co.il/1087-42082-he/Galatz.aspxhttp://glz.co.il/1087-42082-he/Galatz.aspxhttp://www.mako.co.il/news-israel/education/Article-4a2f75928335641004.htmhttp://electronicintifada.net/tags/tzipi-livnihttp://electronicintifada.net/content/palestine-papers-confirm-israeli-rejectionism/9197http://electronicintifada.net/content/palestine-papers-confirm-israeli-rejectionism/9197


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13/17


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to ha'e been his reticence to accuse the Aricans o being AI)-inecting

rapists, as @ishai did on numerous occasions#

It is unlikely that )aar holds asylum-seekers in higher regard than @ishai#

ather, )aar5s reluctance to rame non-Jewish Aricans as se< criminals may

be the same reason he is widely suspected o abruptly resigning his

commission in )eptemberC allegationso his own senesset lobbyor aruri reugees# /e5re talking about

'ictims o genocide,H he then said about the asylum-seekers# In Israel5s

treatment o aruri reugees, he said that we Jews must be a shining

e


15/17


Immigration police arrest Arican asylum-seekers during a raid in southern

el A'i'5s Oe'insky .ark on 2! Bay 2!"#

$)hira 1rinbaum( Acti'e)tills*

!ut once &rdan was appointed interior minister and charged with ensuring that Africans

continue to "e incarcerated in srael, he took to the task with gusto. n the last two months of

the year, &rdan worked hard to iron out the wording of the third Anti-nfiltration amendment

and safeguard its passage in parliament. 3ure enough, the legislation was passed under his

watch, in the final minutes of the last sessionof the nineteenth 4nesset.

Ater the law5s passage, Erdan enesset, i such a thing is possible 7 he will urther tighten the

screws on the non-Jewish Aricans#

!# 0enNamin etanyahu

%nce again, or the third year running, Israeli .rime Binister 0enNamin

etanyahuheads the list o Israel5s racist ringleaders#

?rom the top, he coordinated the country5s policy o rounding non-Jewish

Aricans into wretched detention centers as a temporary measure until they
http://electronicintifada.net/people/shiraz-grinbaumhttp://electronicintifada.net/people/activestillshttp://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/politics/53858-141209-israel-parliament-passes-new-law-against-illegal-migrantshttp://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=22077http://electronicintifada.net/tags/benjamin-netanyahuhttp://electronicintifada.net/tags/benjamin-netanyahuhttp://electronicintifada.net/people/shiraz-grinbaumhttp://electronicintifada.net/people/activestillshttp://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/politics/53858-141209-israel-parliament-passes-new-law-against-illegal-migrantshttp://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=22077http://electronicintifada.net/tags/benjamin-netanyahuhttp://electronicintifada.net/tags/benjamin-netanyahu


16/17

can be coerced into accepting deportation orders and e


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emulate it#

a'id )heen is an independent writer and ;lmmaker# 0orn in oronto,

:anada, )heen now li'es in imona# =is website

is www#da'idsheen#comand he can be ollowed on witterC Qda'idsheen#

.hoto caption translation by ena )hunra
http://www.davidsheen.com/https://twitter.com/davidsheenhttp://www.davidsheen.com/https://twitter.com/davidsheen

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Israel’s anti-African dragnet tightens.odt

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