African refugees in Israel: Two viewpoints

The first viewpoint: A Ynet article on the number of African refugees in Israel, and their effect on the country. The lede:

More than 7,400 refugees from African countries have infiltrated Israel through Egypt over the past year, Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter estimated Sunday during a special discussion initiated by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

During the discussion, it was decided to make a distinction between refugees in need of aid and infiltrators arriving in Israel to look for work, and to ask the Egyptian security forces for help in blocking the wave of infiltrators.

Another article details the number of refugees over the years:

An unusual number of 1,000 African refugees have infiltrated Israel over the past two weeks, official sources told Ynet on Monday.

According to police and IDF estimates, some 10,000 people have entered Israel from Africa over the past five years through the Egyptian border. The breached border has made the infiltration very simple.

And the reason:

Shmuel Rifman, head of the Ramat Hanegev Regional Council, told Ynet that the large majority of the refugees came to Israel became the average monthly salary in Egypt is $10, while in Israel it stands at $1,000.

And now, the AP article:

Israel: No Promised Land for Africans
Sitting on a thin mattress in an underground bomb shelter that reeked of urine, Tasfa Mara said he’s happy where he is. The 24-year-old Eritrean escaped forced conscription, beatings and a treacherous trek across three countries before reaching his promised land.

“Only Israel safe,” he said in patchy English, his hands and feet heavily bandaged from lacerations he suffered on the barbed-wire barricade between Egypt and Israel when crossing last week. “All African countries the same.”

Mara may not have a safe haven much longer. This week Israel plans to begin deporting thousands of African migrants who have slipped in through the porous southern border with Egypt. It remains unclear how the expulsions will be carried out and where Israel will send them.

Founded six decades ago in the wake of the Nazi genocide, Israel finds itself torn between a sense of duty to help people fleeing persecution and fears of an onslaught of illegal immigrants. The result has been a confused policy.

That’s one of the most biased headlines I’ve seen since—oh, Christmas, and the usual “Jesus wouldn’t make it through the wall” stories. And while some of the story is positive—it does show the enormous difference between they way Africans are treated by Israel, and the way they are treated by Egypt, it’s an overall negative piece.

And of course, the great unasked questions hover over the entire article: Where is the UN Commission on Refugees in all this? Why does the UN spend so many hundreds of millions of dollars on UNRWA, which tends only to Palestinian refugees and the descendants of refugees, when it’s obvious that there are thousands of real refugees in dire need of help? Is the UN providing food, shelter, clothing, and medical care to the Eritreans and Sudanese refugees in Israel? Well, no. Check out their budget for Israel. It’s a whopping $232,138. I’m assuming that includes salaries. So nope, Israel is S.O.L. on the UN supplying any bucks for the African refugees. But the UN is providing assistance in declaring refugee status for the Africans.

As usual, though, where the world falters on humanitarian needs, Israel does not.

Tel Aviv has embraced them warmly. Most Darfurians now live in apartments, enjoy the city’s welfare services and their children attend its schools. Volunteers have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars and helped arrange thousands of work permits.

“They have been through such traumas. Their motivation is not to come here, it is to escape their fate at home,” said Yael Dayan, deputy mayor of Tel Aviv. “Whoever gets here, we take them in, but the government has to decide on a policy … It will not happen by itself.”

No, it will happen by inches. And you know that racist, apartheid state? Well, it’s taking in thousands of non-Jewish Africans that Egypt doesn’t want.

Yassin Moussa, 30, arrived in Israel from Darfur 2 1/2 years ago. After spending 16 months in detention, today he coordinates relief efforts for the new migrants, arranging housing and employment.

Moussa witnessed the execution of his father and uncles and was separated from his mother, sisters and wife when he fled Darfur. He does not know their whereabouts, or if they survived.

Today, he navigates the streets of Tel Aviv with ease, cell phone in hand, communicating easily in Hebrew. “I feel like an Israeli,” he said.

Sounds like he acts like one, too. Hey, who knows? Maybe they’ll decide to convert to Judaism. Then what will Israel’s critics say?