The Population, Immigration and Border Authority told the approximately 2,000 African asylum seekers who are being illegally detained at the Holot “detention facility” in the desert near Gaza – almost all of who qualify for refugee status under international law – that they will now be deported from Israel to an unnamed African country unless they are determined to be refugees. Israel’s High Court of Justice has repeatedly ruled detention of these asylum seekers at Holot to be illegal, but successive governments headed by Benjamin Netanyahu have skirted those rulings.
On Erev Passover, Israel Begins Deportation Of African Asylum Seekers
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Israel’s treatment of African asylum seekers has received worldwide condemnation from refugee aid groups, the UN and activists – including many in Israel itself, including a group of elderly Holocaust survivors.
But none of that often sharp criticism has done anything to deter governments headed by Benjamin Netanyahu from persecuting and mistreating some of the world’s poorest and most desperate people.
And now Israel’s Population, Immigration and Border Authority prepared for Passover yesterday by launching a forced exodus of African asylum seekers, Ha’aretz reported
The Population, Immigration and Border Authority told the approximately 2,000 African asylum seekers who are being illegally detained at the Holot “detention facility” in the desert near Gaza – almost all of who qualify for refugee status under international law – that they will now be deported from Israel to an unnamed African country unless they are determined to be refugees. Israel’s High Court of Justice has repeatedly ruled detention of these asylum seekers at Holot to be illegal, but successive governments headed by Benjamin Netanyahu have skirted those rulings.
However, Israel rejects almost all refugee status applications from non-Jewish Africans it actually processes and keeps hundreds of other applications unprocessed – sometimes for years at a time.
At least seven Eritrean citizens being held in Holot were given deportation notices yesterday – although the AFP reported that the Authority had already warned the asylum seekers earlier this week that they all could potentially get them at any time.
The notices reportedly did not specify to which country they would be deported.
Under international law, it is illegal to deport an asylum seeker to dangerous countries like Eritrea.
Officials from the Population, Immigration and Border Authority reportedly refused to answer questions about where the deportations or name the country or countries to which the Africans would be deported.
The Population, Immigration and Border Authority reportedly also told these African asylum seekers that they have 30 days to leave Israel on their own. If they do not do so, they will be moved from the Holot detention camp to Saharonim Prison.
“After working hard in the last several months, we have found a country that will accept you. The state will approve work and residency permits for you. Over the last 10 years, this country [that the asylum seekers will be sent to] has been in a situation of positive development. Ten thousand citizens who had been migrants have returned. The country has created job opportunities for other citizens of Africa. The country’s economy has improved substantially over the past decade. It is considered one of the largest countries in Africa, and it depends on exports to the United States and Europe. Because of political improvements, the country has a strong government, good education, health and transportation systems, and other developments,” the Authority’s notice to the African asylum seekers read, according to an Eritrean refugee who translated it for Ha’aretz.
The notice also reportedly said that Israel’s Interior Ministry would give a “good grant” of$3,500 to every Sudanese or Eritrean who agrees to leave Israel.
“The money will be given [to you] at the airport in a secure manner. When you arrive at the third country, people will receive you at the airport and give you information about life in the country and other important information. The Sudanese and Eritreans who left with the help of the Israeli government to the third country said they are living a good life, studying English and have a good work. According to them, some have opened businesses and are living well,” the Authority’s notice to the African asylum seekers continued, adding that the asylum seekers would stay in a hotel for their first night in their new unnamed country and will each be given a visa there.
However, those who refuse to leave for that unnamed country will be imprisoned, and some African asylum seekers who “voluntarily” left under similar circumstances last year reportedly claimed afterward that they had been deceived. While Israel did give them the money they were promised, the reception in their new country was nothing like what Israel promised it would be and these asylum seekers felt abandoned and were now alone in yet another strange country with no one to help them.