Blog Post: Israel’s refugee roundups

Posters around Jerusalem appeared on March 13 by rightwing settlers announcing a Sunday protest march to destroy the family home of Merkaz Harav yeshiva attacker, Ala Abu Dhaim's. However, with Israeli nationalists mobilizing both in the Knesset and at the grassroots, Palestinians aren't the only people being threatened.

According to refugee solidarity activists, nearly 1000 refugees - mostly from Africa, especially Sudan - have been arrested in police roundups since the beginning of March. While many of the asylum seekers have UN papers declaring their status, "Immigration police have been arresting people off the street," says ‘Nawal' a women from southern Sudan who was arrested on March 14. "They are telling us to leave city, fingerprinting people and forcing them to sign papers in Hebrew. When I asked the officer why this was happening, he said it was a government policy."

Most of the refugees entered Israel through Egypt, fleeing harsh conditions and abuse from authorities. Sudanese refugees have faced a consistent crackdown from authorities in Cairo for years. Referring to a letter between the Israeli immigration police and the UN commission on refugees in Tel Aviv, obtained by the activists, Karen Shayo says that police are planning to arrest 2100 people.

"It's a way of controlling the refugees," she says. "They're doing this to register people. They want to make a database of all the countries that the people are from, contact the countries embassy's and try to send them back," contends Shayo, who provides refugee support in Tel Aviv.

Two weeks ago, Tel Aviv immigration police tried to raid a refugee shelter despite the resident's possession of UN recognition papers. The raid was only halted when people blocked the door and activist Nadav Franckovich was arrested while preventing police from entering. Shayo says that according to the letter, the police intend on arresting 300 people a day.

Recently Israel has been trying to make a case for itself as a humanitarian state, opening its borders to welcome the people from Africa fleeing persecution and genocide. Most notably, Israel made a big announcement out of granting 500 asylum seekers from Darfur refugee and permanent residence status.

Although, according to ‘Tarig,' who fled Darfur after he says his father and sister were burned to death, 3000 Darfurians have not received Israeli recognition. He was arrested by immigration police in Tel Aviv on March 14.

Walking with Franckovich and Nawal through Tel Aviv's immigrant neighborhood of Neve Shaanan, the atmosphere is tense as police raids and arrests have been increasing in the area. Nawal notes that the reason we're receiving glances and strange looks is because I'm wearing aviator sunglasses and both us are wearing hoodies, so people think we are undercover cops. She says that there are a lot less people on the streets or in the park because many residents are afraid to leave there homes. "People are living in fear these days," she explains, standing on the corner of Tel Aviv's central bus station.

Condemning the genocide in Darfur, Israel has invoked its self-proclaimed status of a so-called Jewish state, trying to tie its image to humanist opposition to genocide. None-the-less, there appears to be at least a little cynicism in state that declares an existential policy of "never again" to the world, while rounding up Darfurians in Tel Aviv.