Knowing the Stranger Jewish Texts and Asylum Seekers in Israel Binah at the J - Toronto's Jewish Learning Co-Operative

- How does this source relate to asylum seekers?

- What exactly are our responsibilities to someone seeking asylum at our gates according to this source?

- What does this source say about where asylum seekers should be able to seek refuge?

History of Being Sojourners/ Homeless

Genesis 3:22-24 Adam and Eve uprooted from the garden and forced out

Genesis 12:1 Abraham, called to leave his home and go to a new land

Genesis 37-46 Joseph sold into slavery in a strange land

Exodus 2:15-22 Moses as a guest in Midian

Deuteronomy 6:10-12 Remember, you were once sojourners

Deuteronomy 26:5 Remember, a wandering Aramean was my father

I Samuel 23-24 David, like a refugee, hides in the wilderness to escape death

-Israel was founded on the principle of protecting Jews seeking asylum, (framed after the Holocaust). In the light of Jewish history (where Jews were both sojourners and persecuted), how do you think Israel should treat other persecuted people?

- How do our experiences inform the way we respond to the needs of others?

Deportation Now!

By DANNY DANON

05/24/2012

What would you think if I told you of a country that, in the middle of its financial and cultural center, allowed the existence of an autonomous district in which the laws of the state do not apply? What would you say if I informed you that more than 25,000 residents of this urban area – the same population size as an average city in this country – are illegal residents of the State of Israel?

There are over 80,000 illegal infiltrators in Israel. In 2011, that number increased by 17,000, and since the beginning of 2012 more than 8,000 people have crossed our borders illegally. We are at a critical crossroads with a strategic demographic threat developing within our borders that may upend our country’s very character as a Jewish and democratic state. It is nonsensical that such large numbers of illegal infiltrators from Africa are settling permanently in our country and so little is being done to rectify this problem. This is especially highlighted when taking into account that the crime rate among the infiltrators is almost double the rate of that in the general population. The desperately necessary solution is a three-pronged program to end this dangerous phenomenon: stop, arrest and deport.

We have begun to make progress on the first element of this plan. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahuan historic project is being completed along our southern border. Millions of shekels have been budgeted to build a (hopefully) impregnable fence between Egypt and Israel.

Together with an intensified effort by the IDF and the Border Police, we may soon see a shifting of the tide in terms of the numbers of infiltrators who are able to cross into Israel undetected.

Regarding the second element, arrest, we are also beginning to see more action from the government. Whenever infiltrators succeed in eluding capture and make it safely into Israeli territory, they must be immediately detained. Understanding the strain that a large increase in arrests will exert on our prison services, the government has approved the building of an advanced detention center. Once completed, excuses about lack of space and resources needed to house those who break our laws by sneaking into our country will no longer be valid.

While we are slowing the flow of illegal infiltrators and detaining those who do gain entry, we must simultaneously begin to seriously implement the third part of this strategy. All illegal infiltrators in the State of Israel must be deported immediately. Some will go home to Africa, while others may be sent to Eastern Europeonce repatriation and compensation agreements are reached. But in the end, they all must go. This may sound like a complicated process, but through increased, stricter enforcement, along with smart new legislation when needed, we can quickly simplify the process. Most importantly, it must be carried out properly and swiftly.

Some on the extreme left cry out that it is unfair to demand that we send these people home. While opponents may be trying to score cheap political points against the Likud government, we must not get bogged down by responding to their simplistic and often blatantly false accusations. We do not have the luxury of burying our heads in the sand and ignoring the burgeoning threat to our society that is making headlines on an almost daily basis.

The Likud government has begun to take important steps to implement this plan, but there is much to do and not much time left. Every day that goes by in which infiltrators are not stopped, arrested and deported merely encourages an increase in the number of Africans who attempt to reach Israel. We must make clear to ourselves and to the world that we will no longer tolerate this attack on our sovereignty.

The State of Israel has never been known to shy away from strategic threats that endanger the existence of the Jewish homeland. Just in the past few months, our leaders have made it abundantly clear that we are willing to do whatever it takes to stop such a threat a half continent away. There is no reason that the issue of illegal infiltrators should be treated any more lightly. We must all unite and increase the public pressure on our government to ensure that it acts immediately on all necessary fronts to end this threat once and for all.

The writer is deputy speaker of the Knesset and chairman of World Likud. He is also the founder and chairman of “Deportation Now!” – an extra-parliamentary group formed to stop the tide of illegal infiltrators into Israel.

African asylum seekers strike to demand rights, hold unprecedented rally in Tel Aviv

by Noam Sheizaf

Published January 5, 2014 - 972mag.com

In an unprecedented protest, some 20,000 African asylum seekers march to Rabin Square to demand that Israel examine their asylum claims and stop arresting and detaining members of the refugee community.

Asylum seekers demonstrate in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square on the first day of a three-day strike protesting detentions and demanding refugee status, January 5, 2014. (Photo: Activestills.org)

Over 20,000 asylum seekers, mostly from Eritrea, assembled in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square Sunday morning to demand recognition as refugees. Across Israel, asylum seekers went on a three-day strike, and more protests were planned.

In recent weeks, the government stepped up the arrest and imprisonment of African asylum seekers who entered the state without permits. Several months ago, Israel’s High Court of Justice struck down a law authorizing the state to lock up for three years any person who entered the country illegally, and in some cases, indefinitely. But last month the Knesset passed a new law, authorizing the state to hold asylum seekers in “closed” prisons for a year. A new “open” holding facility named “Holot” began operating in the desert, where asylum seekers can be held indefinitely until their eventual deportation.

The government has stepped up enforcement measures against Israeli businesses that employ asylum seekers in recent weeks and months and municipalities have been shutting down shops and restaurants owned by Africans, adding to a feeling of despair in the asylum seeker community.

The general strike is the latest step in the African protest campaign against the recent measures. Dozens of asylum seekers walked out of the Holot facility (most of them were returned by force), large marches took place in Tel Aviv and Eritrean dissidents broke into an event in the North hosted by the Eritrean ambassador to Israel. Some 50 people were injured and arrested in the fight that broke out between the regime supporters and the protesters.

Most asylum seekers who do work are employed in hotels and restaurants, mostly as various types of cleaners.

Protesters in Tel Aviv held signs reading: “We are not criminals; we are refugees,” and “Freedom”. Speakers told stories about the plight of the community. “We are living in fear,” one speaker said, “the government waged war on us.” At least a couple members of Knesset showed up and expressed their support for the asylum seekers.

Speaking at the rally, chair of the Knesset Committee on Foreign Workers MK Michal Rozin (Meretz) said, “this is an existing moment: tens of thousands of innocent people are not willing to go to prison, standing together and shouting: ‘we are not criminals.”

“There are certain steps (taken by the state) about which we cannot stay silent,” she continued. “It’s time for real answers – and the government can give them.”

There are some 53,000 African Asylum seekers in Israel. The government refuses to review their individual requests for refugee status and instead refers to them as “infiltrators.” The term, which was used to describe Palestinians refugees that tried to enter the country in the 1950s, is also commonly used in the Hebrew media.