How Israel Hides Its Asylum Seeker Problem
By Elizabeth Tsurkov <
http://blogs.forward.com/authors/elizabeth-tsurkov/>
06 October 2014
"There is no asylum seeker problem in Israel."
So said Netanyahu when, following his recent address to members of the
Jewish Federations of North America in New York, one of the attendees raised
the issue of African asylum-seekers.
"They are illegal job immigrants," the Israeli prime minister said, adding:
"Asylum seekers can come in like those from Syria - but not job seekers from
Africa."
There are a few problems with this.
First of all, while all of Syria's other neighbors have welcomed thousands
of Syrian refugees (Turkey and Lebanon each host over one million Syrian
refugees), Israel has accepted none. Israel does welcome Syrians who've been
injured in the ongoing civil war in the country and offer them top-notch
medical treatment free of charge. Most patients are interested in returning,
but even in cases when they are not, they are deported back to a country
engulfed in war. Thus, the State opposed the
<
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4479483,00.html> petition filed
to the High Court by a 17-year-old Syrian girl who was treated in Israel and
wished to remain here. She was deported to Syria in early 2014.
But, more than that, there's the fact that about 48,000 African migrants
reside in Israel. The government insists that they are "illegal work
infiltrators." Is that true - or are they refugees who would face
persecution if returned to their homelands?
Most asylum-seekers in Israel (about 73% according to the Ministry of
Interior) are Eritreans, while 19% are from Sudan. Before Israel completed
the construction of the fence along the Israeli-Egyptian border in 2012,
migrants from various African countries would enter Israel through the
border. Those migrants would be detained and immediately deported to their
countries of origin. Migrant workers from mostly Asian countries who've been
invited to Israel and overstayed their visa are also routinely detained and
deported. If the Eritrean and Sudanese are actually illegal work migrants,
why doesn't Israel deport them to their countries of origin?
Israel does not deport them because it would be illegal under Israeli and
international law, which prohibits deporting a person to a place where their
life or liberty would be at risk. This principle of international law is
enshrined in the Refugee Convention, which Israel and Jewish organizations
helped draft after the Holocaust.
About
<
http://www.voanews.com/content/un-thousands-fleeing-eritrea-in-desperation/
1940783.html> 4,000 people flee Eritrea every month, according to the U.N.
They flee the harshest dictatorship in Africa where all citizens must
perform mandatory open-ended national service, during which men and women
toil in mines, pave roads, build bridges and personally serve their
commanders. The service starts during the last year of high school and ends
only when the person becomes too old or sick to be useful. This GULAG-like
system ensures the submission of the population and the enrichment of the
junta ruling the country. Those who evade or defect from the national
service face prolonged detention without trial, torture and death.
This is why the Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister at the time, MK Danny
Ayalon, stated before the Knesset in 2011: "The international community
regards the government in Eritrea as one that does not respect human rights,
and whoever returns there is in danger, possibly danger of death."
The Sudanese asylum-seekers in Israel are overwhelmingly non-Arabs from
Darfur and the Nuba Mountains region. The Nuba Mountains, just like the
Darfur region, is inhabited by African tribes who face a systematic campaign
of violence and ethnic cleansing at the hands of the Arab regime in
Khartoum.
One thing Netanyahu did get mostly right - Israel has very few
asylum-seekers. Only a few thousand of the 48,000 Africans in Israel have
filed asylum claims. But that's only because, until 2013, Sudanese and
Eritreans were barred from filing refugee status applications. Israeli
authorities informed them that because they enjoy group protection, they
cannot file individual claims. Since early 2014, thousands of asylum-seekers
have filed claims, despite the fact that the Ministry of Interior did not
announce the change in policy.
Still, many asylum-seekers choose not to apply for asylum because they do
not trust Israel's asylum system - after all, Israel has recognized only two
Eritreans and zero Sudanese nationals as refugees to date. In fact, Israel
has the lowest recognition rate of refugees among Western countries - only
0.15% of asylum applications are approved each year on average.
In 2013, 84.5% of Eritreans and 74.4% of Sudanese citizens who fled to other
countries were recognized as refugees worldwide. Does Netanyahu really
believe that all the real refugees are going to other countries while all
the fake ones who are actually work migrants come to Israel?
Elizabeth Tsurkov is a Projects' Director at the Hotline for Refugees and
Migrants, an Israeli human rights NGO.
Received on Mon Oct 06 2014 - 16:05:59 EDT