Egypt Arrests and Deports Sudanese Refugees Sent Back to Egypt by Israel

Remember when Ehud Olmert decided to deport Sudanese refugees to Egypt, promising that these poor people would not then be arrested or harassed by Egypt and would not be sent back to the Sudan? Remember how human rights activists inside and outside Israel doubted Olmert's word just as they doubted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's? Remember how some of us argued that these deportations were against core Jewish values?

Sadly, it seems we were correct. Ha'aretz reports:

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees is investigating whether Egypt broke its promise not to deport Sudanese refugees back to their country of origin after they had illegally crossed into Israel, UNHCR's Cairo spokeswoman told Haaretz.

The investigation, which also involves Israel's Foreign Affairs Ministry, revolves around 48 Sudanese refugees whom Israel deported to Egypt two months ago.

The spokeswoman, Abir Atfah, said her organization asked the Egyptian authorities to allow the UNHCR to meet the refugees, who were deported back to Egypt on August 19, but this effort failed. Atfah believes the 48 refugees were arrested as soon as they entered Egypt.

"Some of the refugees deserve recognition as asylum seekers. We are very troubled by the possibility that they were deported back to Sudan," Atfah said. She added that 23 of the refugees had asked to be recognized as asylum seekers.…

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem is trying through the embassy in Cairo to gain information about the group of refugees, a ministry official told Haaretz. Ministry officials said they have so far been unsuccessful.

One Sudanese refugee who is in Israel said a relative of his who had been deported to Egypt told him over the phone she was detained in Egypt for three weeks until she was flown to Sudan. She was questioned by the Sudanese authorities and then released, he said.

Comments

[Yochanan Lavie]

Olmert should be deported to Egypt.

[Shimon]

I think Shamrya should be deported to Egypt along with Yochanan and the rest of the Goyim trying to get into the Holy Land...we have enough of them here!!

[Yochanan Lavie]

Shimon: My grandparents suffered in pogroms. Fuck you.

[yona loriner]

he lets cursing on here?

[Sephardiman]

I'm no fan of Olmert but safeguarding our borders from undesirables is the responsibility of every national leader. Darfur is no concern of Medinat Yisrael. Israel is not the dumping ground for Third World problems.

[Anon]

--he lets cursing on here?--

Considering the unprovoked attack on YL (Sharya is fair game since he is the blogmaster :) ) I would agree that an exception is warranted. Though for the record, my thinking on this matter is more in line with the thoughts expressed by Sephardiman than YL.

[Yochanan Lavie]

If Israel can't accept Darfur refugees, fine. But sending them to Egypt is cruel and unusual punishment. Egypt is a horrible country- a vast contrast to its glorious past. It is poor, corrupt, dictatorial, and filled with Muslim fanatics the gov't alternately supresses and panders to. Send them to Austrailia, or Canada, or the US- any other nation of immigrants. Sending Darfurians to Egypt- a police state rife with Islamists in its population- is like sending them back to Sudan. These people suffered enough from the 'religion of peace' (even though they are Muslims themselves).

Olmert is a horrible prime minister who botched the Lebanon war, botched Gaza, and is showing as much compassion to the people of Sderot as he is to the Darfurians. I would almost on principle disagree with anything he does- but esp. to helpless Darfurians.

Again, if we can't accept them- fine. But for pity's sake- Egypt?

[Anon]

--Again, if we can't accept them- fine. But for pity's sake- Egypt?--

I don't think any country (other than perhaps Darfur) is volunteering to take them. While I don't think Israel has an obligation to absorb them, I do then that considering our history jews should be particularly sensitive to the plight of refugees. As much as I dislike the idea of refugee camps, perhaps Israel should just set up some refugee camps and let the UN manage them. God only knows how much money the UN blows each year on Arab refugee camps. Considering how much of the UN budget is contributed by the US, that my money they are throwing away.

[shmuel s]

"Shimon: My grandparents suffered in pogroms. Fuck you."

You show your ignorance by talking like that. I had many relitives that died in the hands of Goyim as well as many readers to this Blog. Does that give you a right to decide what is best for Am Yisrael? Shamayrah doesn't complain for the jew's that were kicked out of Gaza, but will complain for the non jews of africa. So to you yochanan and to the host of this blog I say you are not our brethren and don't speak for me or am yisrael. So F-ck you too.

[Anon]

--So F-ck you too.--

are you gay?

[Yochanan Lavie]

Does that give you a right to decide what is best for Am Yisrael?

No, but I can give my opinion and you can disagree with it. I don't claim "daas torah" unlike your katanim.

Shamayrah doesn't complain for the jew's that were kicked out of Gaza, but will complain for the non jews of africa.

It's his blog, so take that up with him. I don't always agree with him 100%. Personally, I don't think caring for human beings is a finite thing (if I care for Ploni, I have nothing left for Almoni). So I care for both Gaza Jews and African refugees, and that's why I detest Olmert.

So to you yochanan and to the host of this blog I say you are not our brethren and don't speak for me or am yisrael. So F-ck you too.

I never claimed to speak for anybody but myself. You cannot even speak for yourself because you're a brainwashed chareidi dickhead.

[shmuel s]

I am not a brainwashed dickhead. I am Orthodox and the Chareidim Can kiss my Butt. Because thay would not defend an asshole like you butt I would. I hate Olmert more than you but you hate everyone.
Anon by the way you are a product of a Gay couple. So don't ask others what you are.
But everyone is entitled to there opinion but the reformish attitude of TIKKUN OLAM is plain Bull and pathetic. Fight for your brother first whether charadei or chilunit and then cry about the rest of the world.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Because thay would not defend an asshole like you butt I would.

What language is this? It resembles English, but it makes no sense.

I hate Olmert more than you but you hate everyone.

I don't hate everyone, but here I am, subject to an unprovoked personal attack, simply because someone disagrees with my views. I have tried to be civil on this blog. It doesn't work. I won't take this shit lying down anymore.

[Isa]

Who would make a good refuge that Israel with some finesse could absorb?
People such as the Assyrian Christians of Iraq. Today the Kurds are persecuting them, Their home language is Syriac (Aramaic) Their recital of their alphabet is PRESICELY same as in Hebrew (Yemenite accent) We could say to them "You are free to practice your religion but no missionizing" "We have a common enemy-help us defend this land"

[jay]

It just came to me who you are. Scott Rosenburg. I knew you when I went to college in Minnesota, and that was over 20 years ago plus. Even back then I remember you as a very passionate, bright but misdirected Jew, railing against all Jewish authority, and bashing the Hillel House on campus. I imagine you are a rather tortured soul Scott. It seems to be that spending your energy on this "shtus" that you put out could be better spent on more productive endeavors. I am sorry you are so angry. Perhaps therapy and medication could have helped all these years. You are absolutely right in much of what you point out...but what you end up doing is throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Of course there are a lot of sinning religious Jews...that does not negate the fact that their are a ton of righteous good baalei batim and abal a bustas who represent true Jewish ethical and moral living. I really do feel sorry for you, I only wish you could one day find happiness. I was in Minneapolis a few years ago and saw you eating at Fishbeins. I recognized you but did not come up to speak with you, as I doubted you would even remember me. You made a big impression, though, for me to remember you from 23 years ago. Honestly, you did not look all that well...I hope you are doing okay. Look, of course Chabad is nuts, everybody knows that, but they also are responsible for tremendous chesed for Jews. I have seen it. Yes, it is a cutthroat business and they play hardball with perceived competitors, but what good busnisman doesn't?
Cut them some slack.

[Shmarya]

Let's see:

20-plus years ago the Hillel at the U of M had services, programs and classes with close to zero Jewish student attendance.

Their lunch program had gone from 135 meals served per day (almost 100% of those to Jewish students) down to fewer than 20 meals per day, most of them served to non-Jews.

The collapse in Hillel attendance can be directly traced to the decisions to a) fire the then-rabbi, b) hire a replacement rabbi with a poor track record but the 'right' religious outlook and c) allow that new rabbi to crush all independent student groups and to program from the top down, rather than from the students.

This rabbi left after destroying the institution. Within a few years of his departure, students were again back in the building and programming was again student-driven.

Of course, you might wonder why any of this would upset me – obviously, it did not upset you, and you by your own declaration are mentally healthy.

It upset me because, a)I helped form many of those Jewish studnt organizations and did some of the most successful programming ever done on this campus, b) I was on the search committee that hired the rabbi with the 'right' religious outlook, c) that committee rejected a far more competent candidate because he was visually handicapped, two others because they were Orthodox and hired the religiously 'correct' rabbi because he was a friend of a powerful local rabbi; they did this openly and against my objections.

I realize that for a mentally healthy person like yourself, violating state and federal law to hire a friend of a friend might not be reason enough to get upset, even if the result of that illegal hire nearly destroys the organization, its programs and its clients.

Further, it is clear that in order to fit in and to be successful, especially in the Jewish community, it is necessary to overlook most criminal acts and moral failings committed by leaders and community employees.

That is why those who question authority, who expose abuses of it and try to protect those victimized are so often marginalized. Why, as you very well know, most of these whistle-blowers and advocates are in need of mental health counseling and psychotropic medications. Nothing else could possibly explain why these rare individuals would risk so much with so little to actually gain, and nothing else would explain why others – like yourself, for instance – did not stand up.

Of course, there is another explanation – that those who stand up to the abuse of power, even if imperfect, are doing the right and honorable thing, and those who sit silently by eating the chulent and ignoring the abuses are in the wrong.

That explanation holds true even if the whistle-blower who fights the abuses of power would do it better and more effectively if properly medicated.

[Warren Burstein]

you might be interested in
http://southjerusalem.com/2008/03/25/refugees-and-the-jewish-question/ for an update on the situation.

[Online Pharmacy]

I'm no fan of Olmert but safeguarding our borders from undesirables is the responsibility of every national leader.