“When I saw the people waiting here my heart broke. When I see people who fled their homes and were left with nothing, I cannot stay silent – I was in that situation too, we too were refugees. The Israeli society has a history and that is why we cannot stay indifferent to human suffering; that should be our primary thought. We established a country here to set a moral example."
Unidentified Holocaust survivor giving unidentified African refugee food 3-17-2014 (Motti Kimchi /Ynet)
As The Israeli Government Mistreats African Asylum Seekers, Elderly Holocaust Survivors Act To Help The Refugees
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Approximately 51,000 asylum seekers in Israel are required by law to renew their visas or face detention and imprisonment.
In most western countries this would not be a significant problem. But Israel is not a typical western country.
In December, the new Infiltration Prevention Law took effect and with it the hours the Population and Immigration Authority offices are open have been reduced across the country. So asylum seekers – almost all African refugees – must wait in long lines outside in the rain and cold, often for days at a time and without access to toilets or shelter, to deal with their visa issues, Ynet reported. If they do not do so and are stopped by police or immigration police, they can be sent to 90 days of detention at the Saharonim detention facility. That can be immediately followed by another period of detention at the notorious Holot detention facility.
This system was set up to make life as difficult as possible for these asylum seekers, most of whom are legitimate refugees Israel illegally refuses to classify as such.
Today, a group of 20 elderly Holocaust survivors and staff from the Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Victims in Israel went to the Population and Immigration Authority Bureau in Tel Aviv and distributed water and Purim gift baskets to hundreds of these refugees.
“[E]very day [we] see people waiting for hours in the rain, in the cold, and in unbearable conditions. As a Holocaust survivor it raises thought, it takes you back to a time in which you were constantly chased and your life was in danger.…Beyond politics, we want to say that human beings cannot overlook the suffering of other people,” Batya Rapaport, a 75-year-old survivor, who as a child escaped from the Warsaw Ghetto, told Ynet.
Another survivor, 80-year-old Esther Miron, survived Auschwitz-Birkenau. Much of her family, however, did not. She came to help the African refugees because, she said, it was her moral duty.
“When I saw the people waiting here my heart broke. When I see people who fled their homes and were left with nothing, I cannot stay silent – I was in that situation too, we too were refugees. The Israeli society has a history and that is why we cannot stay indifferent to human suffering; that should be our primary thought. We established a country here to set a moral example,” Miron said.
Ronnie Kalinsky, director general of the Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Victims in Israel, told Ynet that survivors wanted to something, even if it was largely symbolic, to help the refugees.
"The survivors who walked past here in recent days asked to do something, even if only symbolically. It's hard to see people waiting days on end without any conditions, sometimes at night too. They are also entitled to humane treatment,” Kalinsky said.
The intentional mistreatment of African refugees has been the policy of this and the previous Netanyahu governments with right wing, Zionist Orthodox and haredi parties taking the lead. Perhaps the greatest offender is the Sefardi haredi Shas Party, whose leaders have mercilessly attacked all efforts to help African asylum seekers.