African Asylum Seekers in Israel

Debbie Herdan is a midwife and former Tel Aviv resident who was very active in the organization Hagar and Miriam, which works with African women in Israel who are either pregnant or have recently given birth.  Debbie worked with Eritrean, Sudanese and Darfurian asylum seekers for several years and writes that they became like family to her.  She passed on the following messages encouraging people in Israel to come out to a rally on December 24th in Tel Aviv (corner of Rothschild and Sheinkin at 10 am, for those who want to attend).  The occasion is the declared intention of the State of Israel to require refugees to live in a refugee camp (run by the Prison Service).

African refugees in Tel Aviv at a protest against deportation

From Alma Zohar:

Hello everyone,

In the Jewish state, they are about to finally establishing a refugee ghetto in which to imprison black refugees. Don’t let the name ‘refugee camp’ fool you, by making you believe that such a camp will act as a leading humanitarian assistance centre for the refugees.
The camp that they are setting up in the south of Israel is an IMPRISONMENT CAMP, designed to isolate an unwanted part of society. In other places, this is known as a “ghetto.”
They will probably also be coerced to work.
Those who are against this but stay quiet are not any less to blame.

The Jews of Israel must wake up!!!

We won’t be able to help everyone, but that’s not a reason not to help anyone!

We need to ensure that the refugees that are in Israel are allowed to work. Recently Israel has denied permission for refugees to work, which will force them to be thrown to the streets. This has been done to worsen their situation, to the point that they will have no opportunity to support themselves in such minimalistic conditions. Either they must choose to leave, or else turn to a life of crime and prostitution.

We need to get up off our backsides and come to the protest on Friday (24/12) at Gan Meir!!! There are enough sane, humane, and logical ways to deal with these problems. We will not allow a detention camp for black refugees to be established in the state of Israel. Not as long as I am a part of it. Not under my watch.

Looking forwards to seeing you there,

Alma Zohar