African migrants are not welcome in Israel. In 2013, a fence was put up along Israel’s border with Egypt to stop the flood of migration from Africa, the writer says. – Picture: Rudychaimg / Wikimedia Commons
By Kim Heller
War is an art. And it is rarely pretty. As Israel continues to mount attacks on Gaza, it is having to replenish its military forces. It is now emerging that Israel’s new strategy is to grant residency to African asylum seekers who are ready, able and willing to fight for Israel in Gaza. For African asylum seekers, this is a death sentence rather than the life-saving opportunity that they have been desperately seeking.
This sword of Damocles pact can bear no good. It provides no lifeline for African asylum seekers, for they will be placing their lives on the line for a country that is engaged in a long and bloody battle. It is no humanitarian act or charity on the part of Israel.
This new proposal is simply part of a broader immigration strategy to manage African asylum seekers and refugees in Israel. It is a cheap win for Israel, on the back of the desperation of asylum seekers. What is even worse is that African asylum seekers who are coerced or agree to fight this Israel-Gaza battle may find themselves guilty of genocidal acts given that Israel has been accused of genocide in the International Court of Justice.
There are close to thirty thousand African asylum seekers in Israel, mostly young males with an estimated 3,500 from Sudan. Most of the asylum seekers have fled their own country due to deadly conflict, poverty and repression. In the main, they are not recognised as asylum seekers in Israel but as unwelcome economic migrants, and as a threat to the economic, social and cultural landscape of Israel.
Despite Israel being a signatory to the United Nations Refugee Convention, few asylum seekers have been granted refugee status. The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) has stated that it is almost impossible for African migrants to gain asylum. The organisation places the approval rates at less than 1%.
A HIAS report claims that despite many refugees having been in the country for years and able to speak Hebrew fluently, there are few prospects for local integration and access to basic rights.
Most asylum seekers are issued a temporary protection visa which does not entitle them residency or the ability to work. For those who do get work, these are low paid jobs that no Israelis want.
African migrants are not welcome in Israel. In 2013, a fence was put up along Israel’s border with Egypt to stop the flood of migration from Africa. The Israeli Interior Minister at the time was Gideon Saar.
He said, “There are tens of millions in Africa who are seeking shelter in Western countries. Because we’re the only Western country with a land border with Africa, the potential danger for our country is great.” He continued, “We are fighting a struggle for the future character of our country, and we have no intention of compromising.”
Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, praised the building of this border fence for its contribution to limiting ‘severe attacks by Sinai terrorists, and something much worse, a flood of illegal migrants from Africa’, according to the Times of Israel.
With the Egypt border fence in place, came a dramatic dip in asylum seekers from Africa. Increasingly, stronger immigration measures have also been put in place. In 2018, Israel put into practice further policies to rid and reduce African migrancy, in what Netanyahu called "accelerated removal".
Netanyahu announced that African migrants had three months to vacate the country. He gave these migrants two “options” - accept a one-off payment to relocate to another African country or be jailed. The Prime Minister of Israel termed African migrants as “infiltrators”. This great wave of deportation and detention was curbed due to intervention by legal and humanitarian groupings.
In 2018, journalist David Sheen wrote in Al Jazeera that comments made by Israel’s top political and religious leaders were a dismal reminder of how little black lives matter in the country. He wrote, “When the government’s racist rhetoric is the only frame of reference most folks have for African refugees, they can easily be convinced that, like Palestinians, the Africans deserve to be despised’.
Sheen wrote that the Israeli state and religious authorities’ racist attitudes towards African refugees may have deadly consequences. Sheen refers to how one of Israel’s two chief rabbis, Yitzhak Yosef, has called black people ‘monkeys’ during one of his sermons.
“It is highly unlikely that Yosef will face any real repercussions for his racist comments”, Sheen wrote, “He was not demoted after saying in a similar sermon exactly two years ago that all non-Jews – Africans, Arabs, or otherwise – could only live in Israel if they agree to serve the country’s Jewish population”.
Clearly, black lives matter less in Israel. The negative characterisation of African migrants by top government officials is dangerous. In recent years there have been deadly attacks by Israeli citizens on Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers. There was little punitive action against these perpetrators. Such attacks provide a brutal signal to African migrants of their vulnerable and perilous status within Israel.
The very notion of African asylum seekers fighting in a war that is not of their own making is horrific. Especially given the fact that most of these asylum seekers have escaped war torn countries and have experienced high levels of trauma, displacement and loss. It is nothing less than inhumane.
For a country such as Israel which was established on the aftershock of a holocaust and provided a safe zone for refugees, it is both sad and revealing that refugees from Africa are not given sanctity. It is also both sad and revealing that African refugees are only treated as human when they are put their bodies on the line for Israel. A small measure of dignity for African migrants will come only in the act of dying for Israel.
Africans should not be used to fight in battles that are not theirs. For any price whether this is a pot of gold for their government, or a handful of pennies for themselves. Last year, Kenya sent 400 police officers to Haiti to try and help with the brutal and never-ending gang warfare in that country. This week it was announced that a further 600 will be added to the Kenya contingency in Haiti. Kenyan President William Ruto described this as a “historic mission of solidarity”.
This is not solidarity. This is madness. Both in Haiti and Israel. And as always African bodies will be sacrificed.
* Kim Heller is a political analyst and author of ‘No White Lies: Black Politics and White Power in South Africa’
** The views expressed in this article are not necessarily the views of The African