URGENT ACTION ALERT: Send Message of International Solidarity with African Asylum Seekers in Israel to the Israeli Government
SIGN OUR PETITION:
Click here to sign our petition urging the Israeli government to provide a real Refugee Status Determination process and to cease detentions of asylum seekers without due process.
SIGN OUR PETITION:
Click here to sign our petition urging the Israeli government to provide a real Refugee Status Determination process and to cease detentions of asylum seekers without due process.
“Israel is a signatory to an international convention… the convention says that deporting a person to a country where he faces death is not allowed. We remember what it means to be refugees and strangers, and we will act as accepted and correct from a moral and global perspective.”
- Israeli President Shimon Peres, January 2014
- Israeli President Shimon Peres, January 2014
Background (on petition):
On December 11, the Israeli Knesset passed a new Anti-Infiltration Law, allowing asylum seekers in Israel to be detained for up to one year without trial in a so-called "open detention facility" in the middle of the Negev desert. After 150 asylum seekers walked all the way from the detention facility to the Knesset in Jerusalem, they forced onto buses and sent back to detention.
Since January 5, approximately 30,000 African asylum seekers in Israel gathered publicly in silent protest of the Holot “open” detention facility, marching to Rabin Square in Tel Aviv . There was also a march to the Ministry of Interior in Eilat. The number represented 60% of the entire refugee population in Israel!
The next day, around 10,000 asylum seekers demonstrated in front of the French, Italian, German, UK, American, and French Embassies in Israel. They demonstrated outside of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees office in Tel Aviv and on January 7 leaders from the communities held a press conference asking the Israeli government cease to detain asylum seekers and provide them with a fair, transparent, and real Refugee Status Determination Procedure. They specifically asked Prime Minister Netanyahu and Minister of the Interior Gideon Sa’ar to review their asylum requests, release those detained at Holot “open facility” and Saharonim detention facility and cancel the Prevention of Infiltration Law. Meanwhile, around 150 asylum-seekers at Holot ‘open” facility started a hunger strike to express their solidarity with the latest action.
On 8 January, approximately 10,000 asylum seekers protested in the Wohl Rose Park across from the Knesset in Jerusalem. Representatives of the community tried to enter the Knesset for pre-planned meetings with MKs, but were barred entry. Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein said he was concerned that “the infiltrators” entrance into the Knesset would cause a provocation and could lead to violence and disturbances.”
This petition was created in January, 2014 in solidarity with the African asylum seekers who have been marching and demosntrating for their rights in the streets of Israel over the past couple of months. Join us in urging the Prime Minister Netanyahu, Minister of Interior Gideon Saar, and Israeli Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer to cease all detention of asylum seekers without due process and to provide them with a real, transparent, and fair Refugee Status Determination procedure, one that assesses each individual's claim and provides protections and support for refugees in line with the 1951 Refugee Convention of which Israel is a signatory.
Many Israelis have expressed solidarity by marching with and supporting the asylum seekers, but they need our help, the help of the Jews in the Diaspora and of any and all individuals who believe in human rights. They need us to show the Israeli government how much we care about Israel's commitment to refugee rights and humanity.
“You must not deport to his master a slave who seeks refuge with you from his master...you must not mistreat him” (Deuteronomy 23:16).
Note: Please feel free to add comments with more of your opinion or personal background and relationship to this issue. We will send the comments with the petitions to the recipients as well. If you are Jewish, we encourage you to note that in the comments so that the Israeli government becomes more aware that Jews in the Diaspora care about this issue. The petition is open to anyone from all backgrounds and locations to sign. Thank you!
Letter to Acting Adviser to Prime Minister Netanyahu sent by 15 Jewish Organizations on February 9, 2014:
Jonathan Schachter
Acting Adviser to the Prime Minister for Diaspora Affairs
Prime Minister’s Bureau
3 Kaplan St. Hakirya
Jerusalem 91919
Israel
February 9, 2014
Dear Mr. Schachter,
Thank you for your January 8, 2014 response to our letter of November 24, 2103. We appreciate the Office of the Prime Minister taking the time to respond to our concerns about asylum seekers and migrants in Israel.
Since our letter of November 24, peaceful demonstrations by tens of thousands of African asylum seekers drew the world’s attention to the new detention regime being implemented by the Interior Ministry’s Population Immigration and Border Authority (PIBA). We are concerned that these actions not only draw attention to Israel’s delay in fully implementing asylum policies consistent with decisions of Israel’s own independent judiciary and its international law obligations, but also will harm Israel’s standing in Africa and have an unfavorable effect on public opinion in the U.S. towards Israel, as well.
PIBA has opened and begun to order African migrants, including asylum seekers, to move to the Holot facility in the Negev. While officially labeled as an “open” reception facility, recent accounts suggest that Holot is virtually indistinguishable from a minimum security prison, where residents may be held indefinitely without judicial review. Such indefinite detention stands in contrast with the September 2013 ruling of the Israeli High Court of Justice.
As steadfast friends of Israel, dedicated to its security and identity as a just and compassionate society, we urge the government to institute a comprehensive, impartial system to manage the stable population of current asylum seekers and any who may make their way across its borders in the future. This would include implementing a fair refugee status determination system with clear procedural timeframes and transparent decision-making in accordance with Israel’s obligations under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol. We write to reiterate this point and the other recommendations in our November 24 letter.
We are also concerned that the government has continued to characterize all asylum seekers as “infiltrators” and “illegal work migrants” and made deliberate efforts to make them feel unwelcome and if at all possible to “self-deport.” Despite extensive training provided by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the US Department of Homeland Security, HIAS, and other experts, the National Status Granting Body has decided very few of the cases pending before it, and has approved less than 1% of them. As you know, Israel has the lowest asylum approval rate in the developed world. Israeli asylum officers have been further instructed to reject the claims of Eritreans fleeing their country’s repressive military service, standing in contrast to the international recognition of these claims at rates above 80%. We note that, in December 2013, UNHCR issued guidelines on military service evasion in the context of refugee adjudications. These guidelines should be applied in Israel as elsewhere.
Israel was one of the original signatories to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol. We urge the Prime Minister’s office to demonstrate to the world that Israel, the Jewish state, upholds international human rights obligations, humanitarian principles, and Jewish teachings, including to “love the stranger as yourself” (Leviticus 19:33-34) and to “not oppress the stranger, for you know the soul of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 23:9). Such steps would reinforce Israel’s proud reputation as a country built by Jewish refugees and governed by Jewish, democratic and universal values.
Sincerely yours,
In alphabetical order
Gideon Aronoff, Chief Executive Officer, Ameinu
Gal Peleg Laniado, Central Shaliach, Hashomer Hatzair North America
Kali Silverman, Director, Habonim Dror North America
Mark Hetfield, President and CEO, HIAS
E. Robert Goodkind, Chair, Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights of AJC
Rabbi Steve Gutow, President and CEO, Jewish Council for Public Affairs
Rita Freedman, Acting Executive Director, Jewish Labor Committee
Mary Ann Stein, President, The Moriah Fund
Rabbi David Rosenn, Executive Vice President, New Israel Fund
Nathan Hersh, Acting Executive Director, Partners for Progressive Israel
Shauna Leven, Director, René Cassin
Maya Paley, Founder, Right Now
Rabbi Jill Jacobs, Executive Director, T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
Rabbi Deborah Waxman, President, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and Jewish Reconstructionist Communities
Rabbi Jason Klein, President, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association
Jonathan Schachter
Acting Adviser to the Prime Minister for Diaspora Affairs
Prime Minister’s Bureau
3 Kaplan St. Hakirya
Jerusalem 91919
Israel
February 9, 2014
Dear Mr. Schachter,
Thank you for your January 8, 2014 response to our letter of November 24, 2103. We appreciate the Office of the Prime Minister taking the time to respond to our concerns about asylum seekers and migrants in Israel.
Since our letter of November 24, peaceful demonstrations by tens of thousands of African asylum seekers drew the world’s attention to the new detention regime being implemented by the Interior Ministry’s Population Immigration and Border Authority (PIBA). We are concerned that these actions not only draw attention to Israel’s delay in fully implementing asylum policies consistent with decisions of Israel’s own independent judiciary and its international law obligations, but also will harm Israel’s standing in Africa and have an unfavorable effect on public opinion in the U.S. towards Israel, as well.
PIBA has opened and begun to order African migrants, including asylum seekers, to move to the Holot facility in the Negev. While officially labeled as an “open” reception facility, recent accounts suggest that Holot is virtually indistinguishable from a minimum security prison, where residents may be held indefinitely without judicial review. Such indefinite detention stands in contrast with the September 2013 ruling of the Israeli High Court of Justice.
As steadfast friends of Israel, dedicated to its security and identity as a just and compassionate society, we urge the government to institute a comprehensive, impartial system to manage the stable population of current asylum seekers and any who may make their way across its borders in the future. This would include implementing a fair refugee status determination system with clear procedural timeframes and transparent decision-making in accordance with Israel’s obligations under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol. We write to reiterate this point and the other recommendations in our November 24 letter.
We are also concerned that the government has continued to characterize all asylum seekers as “infiltrators” and “illegal work migrants” and made deliberate efforts to make them feel unwelcome and if at all possible to “self-deport.” Despite extensive training provided by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the US Department of Homeland Security, HIAS, and other experts, the National Status Granting Body has decided very few of the cases pending before it, and has approved less than 1% of them. As you know, Israel has the lowest asylum approval rate in the developed world. Israeli asylum officers have been further instructed to reject the claims of Eritreans fleeing their country’s repressive military service, standing in contrast to the international recognition of these claims at rates above 80%. We note that, in December 2013, UNHCR issued guidelines on military service evasion in the context of refugee adjudications. These guidelines should be applied in Israel as elsewhere.
Israel was one of the original signatories to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol. We urge the Prime Minister’s office to demonstrate to the world that Israel, the Jewish state, upholds international human rights obligations, humanitarian principles, and Jewish teachings, including to “love the stranger as yourself” (Leviticus 19:33-34) and to “not oppress the stranger, for you know the soul of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 23:9). Such steps would reinforce Israel’s proud reputation as a country built by Jewish refugees and governed by Jewish, democratic and universal values.
Sincerely yours,
In alphabetical order
Gideon Aronoff, Chief Executive Officer, Ameinu
Gal Peleg Laniado, Central Shaliach, Hashomer Hatzair North America
Kali Silverman, Director, Habonim Dror North America
Mark Hetfield, President and CEO, HIAS
E. Robert Goodkind, Chair, Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights of AJC
Rabbi Steve Gutow, President and CEO, Jewish Council for Public Affairs
Rita Freedman, Acting Executive Director, Jewish Labor Committee
Mary Ann Stein, President, The Moriah Fund
Rabbi David Rosenn, Executive Vice President, New Israel Fund
Nathan Hersh, Acting Executive Director, Partners for Progressive Israel
Shauna Leven, Director, René Cassin
Maya Paley, Founder, Right Now
Rabbi Jill Jacobs, Executive Director, T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
Rabbi Deborah Waxman, President, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and Jewish Reconstructionist Communities
Rabbi Jason Klein, President, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association
See Below for Highlights of Previous Actions, Events, and Statements:
See the joint Right Now-T'ruah press release, urgently calling on the Israeli government to stop deportations.
As a result of the anti-infiltration law, and the government policy of indefinite detention, an unknown number of Eritrean asylum seekers were deported to Asmara after all requests for asylum were rejected by the Ministry of Interior.
According to detainees, the Eritrean Ambassador in Israel said that he escorted them on their return. Over one thousand Eritreans have been locked up for over a year at the Saharonim and Ktziot internment camps in the desert. Every several days, immigration officers visit them, informing them that their only way out of prison is to go back to their homeland. Detainees in a deteriorated mental state may be willing to risk their lives and ask to go back to a country that according to the U.S. State Department Human Rights Report, detains its national service evaders in life-threatening conditions.
See the joint Right Now-T'ruah press release, urgently calling on the Israeli government to stop deportations.
As a result of the anti-infiltration law, and the government policy of indefinite detention, an unknown number of Eritrean asylum seekers were deported to Asmara after all requests for asylum were rejected by the Ministry of Interior.
According to detainees, the Eritrean Ambassador in Israel said that he escorted them on their return. Over one thousand Eritreans have been locked up for over a year at the Saharonim and Ktziot internment camps in the desert. Every several days, immigration officers visit them, informing them that their only way out of prison is to go back to their homeland. Detainees in a deteriorated mental state may be willing to risk their lives and ask to go back to a country that according to the U.S. State Department Human Rights Report, detains its national service evaders in life-threatening conditions.
Click here for more videos
Stop detaining victims of trafficking and torture in Israeli prisons
Click here to sign the petition.
The petition is co-sponsored with
Rene Cassin: The Jewish Voice for Human Rights
Since June 2012, all African asylum seekers arriving in Israel have been automatically imprisoned without trial, for a minimum of three years. Detainees include those previously trafficked, raped and tortured in the Egyptian Sinai. Israel is the destination country and not responsible for abuse suffered prior to entry, but it nevertheless has obligations as to how it treats these people once they arrive. There are serious problems with the current system of dealing with victims of torture and trafficking in detention centers including a lack of identification of victims of trafficking, a lack of sufficient shelter space, and insufficient access to medical rehabilitation. Victims of human trafficking and torture are placed in detention upon entering Israel's borders. The Israeli government should quickly discontinue its policy of detaining victims of trafficking and torture.
Read a powerful op-ed by Right Now member Lucy Newman, who researched Israeli response to to victims of torture for her MPhil at the University of Cambridge, and who is currently working with Rene Cassin on the issue of human trafficking.
Read an article in the Daily Jewish Forward about our January 27th event in Los Angeles, co-sponsored with the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society:
"Advocates Spotlight Plight of African Immigrants in Israel: Los Angeles event calls for tolerance for asylum seekers"
Read a powerful op-ed by Right Now member Lucy Newman, who researched Israeli response to to victims of torture for her MPhil at the University of Cambridge, and who is currently working with Rene Cassin on the issue of human trafficking.
Read an article in the Daily Jewish Forward about our January 27th event in Los Angeles, co-sponsored with the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society:
"Advocates Spotlight Plight of African Immigrants in Israel: Los Angeles event calls for tolerance for asylum seekers"
About Right Now:
Right Now is an international coalition of Jews and allies who are advocating for the rights of the African asylum seekers in Israel through awareness-raising, direct advocacy, and grassroots campaigns. Becoming a member of Right Now entails joining our list serve. You can help out as much or as little as you’d like. All members are volunteers and we are located throughout the United States and in Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Argentina, and Israel.
We call on the Israeli government to:
• Develop a fair Refugee Status Determination procedure that allows for each individual to apply for asylum and provides protection and support for refugees in line with all other Western, democratic countries in the world.
• Change its deportation process so that asylum seekers are not deported during the Refugee Status Determination process, including the period of time in which they can appeal a decision, and so that they have enough time to prepare for deportation or resettlement.
• Cease to build the massive detention center in the Negev desert that arbitrarily imprisons asylum seekers indefinitely.
Right Now supports an immigration policy in which, through a fair and effective Refugee Status Determination process, the case of each individual asylum seeker is researched and heard resulting in the determination of refugee status on a case-by-case basis. We recommend that Israel provide refugees with permanent or long-term temporary social residency and award support services as refugees in line with the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, including the right to work, the right to an education, the right to health services, and the right to travel freely in and out of the country.
Israel should not send asylum seekers or refugees to countries in which their lives are in danger or in which they may be deported to their home countries where their lives are in danger. For those who do not receive refugee status upon going through the RSD process, they should be assisted in determining the safest place available to them.
In light of the building of the fence along Israel's border with Egypt, the number of asylum seekers entering Israel has reduced drastically such that the numbers are not increasing. Thus, we feel that it is important that we prioritize the needs of the 60,000 asylum seekers in Israel's borders. Furthermore, the fence along the border, according to international law, is legal. However, Israel must abide by international law by allowing asylum seekers to enter Israel's borders through gates in the fence if they wish to apply for asylum.
Take Action Right Now--Click here to take action right away.
Email us at info@asylumseekers.org to learn about ways to get involved in the coalition or just to join our list serve for updates on the issue.
Learn about the issue:
See our Youtube channel to view our documentary, "Refuge Among Refugees".
