“Asylum seekers already pay tremendously high-income tax, but since they added in the Deposit Law in May 2017, more than 50% of their salaries goes to deductions,” says Sigal Rozen, director of public policy at the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants. “However, the Deposit is not a tax; it belongs to the individuals who earned that money, and now that they have no income, the government must release this money so they can survive.”
The government has indicated that some of the money will be released, but in a limited manner. “We have heard from some decision makers that they are going to release 2,000 shekels per month — but that is not enough for one person to survive, let alone a family,” says Rozen. “Decision-makers who are arguing to give less say that this is an opportunity to get them to leave, as was the original intention of the law, but even if an asylum seeker had a place to leave to, they can’t; there are no flights, so it is only an opportunity to starve them,” says Rozen.
“We are seeing that, as time passes, the situation worsens,” says Jalal Tuchi, principal of the Bialik-Rogozin school in South Tel Aviv, whose student population is composed mostly of the children of asylum seekers and migrant workers. “Without parents working there is hunger, and this can spiral towards domestic violence and crime. We are trying as best as possible not to get to that.”
To that end, teachers are calling students regularly to ask about their home situation. And this week, together with the help of aid organizations, they provided food vouchers to 90 families that they identified as being in need.
“Every bit of aid and support can help at this time,” says Tuchi.
In addition to not having work, Tekle describes extra complications around being refugees at this time, like confusion about the virus. “If someone is sick and calls the government coronavirus hotline, they ask you for your ID number,” Tekle says. “But the system does not recognize our visa numbers, so they can’t even get through.”
Despite what some people think, asylum seekers didn’t come to Israel to work; they came here fleeing persecution, and they work in order to support themselves. But without that work, it is impossible to survive.
For the refugee community, it is a very short fall from unemployment to hunger to homelessness — along with thousands of Israeli-born children.
Individual Israelis and local organizations are trying their best to step in and help. You can join them by donating to an emergency fund to buy food and other immediate essentials for asylum seekers who have lost their jobs due to coronavirus here.
Tamara Newman is a Tel Aviv based writer and activist.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Forward.