This was not allegedly shouted in a redneck town in the southern USA or in a deserted eastern German village, or in a football stadium in Poland, but in a nation created for a persecuted people.
Israel has an immigration problem, or, as Benjamin Netanyahu says, "a problem with infiltrators". This tiny Middle Eastern country has become a destination for Africans, mostly from South Sudan, fleeing conflict, poverty and the other list of maladies that accompany political upheaval. Last year, South Sudan split from Sudan, after decades of war.
These infiltrators are amongst the thousands of Africans that no country wants. After all, they don't speak the language, they can't do much but live off the state and are technically not Israel's or anybody else's problem, right? Besides, the war in Sudan is technically over, why can't these people just stay where they are?
How to deal with it? Round them up, arrest them, interrogate any African on the street and ask to see his papers, publish statistics showing how crime rises when African immigrants infiltrate Israeli borders (be sure, however, to distinguish that Jewish Ethiopians do not carry these dangers) and be sure to impress upon the idea that a tiny nation can not possibly accommodate even more people.
Many countries have taken similar measures and xenophobia towards immigrants is not unique to Israel. However, while editorials have often pointed out the historical irony in Israel's immigration policy, I find it even harder to stomach the current audacity of the Israeli government building illegal settlements on Palestinian land and then talking about African "infiltrators".
Infiltration of Africa was possible, legal and acceptable for European people for centuries, yet now there are laws that protect those same pioneer infiltrators and their economic and social interests. We can't turn back the clock and give back Africa all the riches stolen through colonial rule, but shouldn't there be laws requiring a minimum investment in economic aid in Africa for every infiltrator that is deported from Israel, Italy, Spain or Germany?
I'm not talking about dumping unwanted subsidized grains into African countries, but agricultural development programs, job creation programs and things that actually lead to sustainable living. While there is an abundance of NGOs doing all sorts of great things in Africa, there are still inhumane practices that keep poor countries poor.
Why, for example, should stock market junkies living in rich countries be allowed to speculate on prices of staples like grain and rice, thereby causing food price instability in poor countries? Just one example. . .
Why is modern day exploitation of Africans perpetuated then we sit back and ask, "What do the Africans want here?"
Photo: activestills
4 comments:
I thought Israel had some kind of policy about immigration or even tourism when it came to non-Jews. I remember a recent news story of a white woman from the US getting kicked out when she visited Israel with a Jewish friend because she wasn't herself wasn't Jewish.
I don't even begin to try and understand what the heck is going on over there.
After Israelis have no problem with Jewish Ethiopians, this clearly shows they have no problem with "blacks". Neither are they obliged to accept and support millions of suffering people, black or otherwise.
It is difficult for me to understand why Israel is always singled out and held to the highest possible standards, by a world that refused even to honour the Israeli athletes murdered 40 years ago because Jew-haters would be offended.
As for the illegal Israeli settlements, I have little idea who and based on what has proclaimed them illegal. Anyway, I am much more worried by the abductions of Israeli soldiers and the shellings and bombings of Israeli civilians, though these acts are rarely referred to as "illegal" and the EU refuses to call their perpetrators terrorists, strongly implying that 70 years after the Holocaust, killing Jews is still OK.
I think sometimes people have to realise that just because someone is from africa he/she isnt some poor angel just trying to live a good life.
Israel saved the ethiopian jews alone and since then slowly integrated them into its society.
But the illegal immigrants are something completely different.
Society simply doesnt like multiple gang rapes. Especially in a relatively small country like Israel.
For all i care Israel should send them back to North or South Sudan. Obviously to the south if they are christian and the north if they are muslim.
There they wont face imminent death just because of their religion.
After all this was the reason of the civil war. The reason those people fled their country.
But then again they could be simple economic "refugees". Then they should simply drive them to the egyptian border and send them back into the sinai peninsula.
Um, Maya, there is a UN resolution and map that shows the settlements to be illegal!!!!
As for why people set Israelis to a high standard, it's because they were, as refugees, given a place to go after being persecuted in the war.
They embraced Ethiopian Jews only because they were Jews. Skin color played no role. You can only be Israeli if you are Jewish. So, Maya, I have to argue you with you there because they would not have said "Blacks Out" if they didn't have a problem with blacks.
And some German. . . ."just because someone is from Africa doesn't mean he is a poor angel" but just because someone is from Israel doesn't mean he is incapable of being xenophobic. . .
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