Israel obligated to help refugees, Friedmann says
In lecture to Israel Bar Association, justice minister compares Darfur refugees to Israelites who fled Egypt 3,000 years ago
"Israel's treatment of the refugees should be in line with what happened 3,000 years ago in Egypt. The refugees should be seen as slaves who have fled, and they must be helped as much as possible," he said at an Israeli Bar Association conference in Eilat.
He told Ynet that he was planning to work within the government for the refugees.
In a lecture titled "The Exodus, Literature, Freedom and Law," Friedmann discussed Israel's attitude to the weak and the slave throughout the years.
Towards the end of his lecture he mentioned the Darfur refugees who had arrived in Israel and were being kept in very inhospitable conditions: "The question Israel should ask itself is how the state deals with such matters. We have problems with foreign workers and their children, and we must ask if we operate in the spirit of the Bible and according to humane principles of defending the weak?
"Israel must become part of those who help the refugees. It is important that we realize that they need help and we must provide them with the assistance they need. That is the desired approach, not to treat them as criminals. We are obliged to assist foreigners, and anyone who has escaped danger and slavery," he stated.
Friedmann proposed that Israel should work with other countries. "Maybe we need to negotiate with Europe so that they take some of the refugees who have arrived in Israel. Clearly, Israel cannot treat them all, but they deserve to be dealt with humanely."
Three weeks ago, a group of 30 refugees who had been lodging in IDF bases, spent the greater part of a day on a bus from the army to the police and back again, with neither willing to take responsibility for them. The fiasco only ended when Beer Sheva's mayor Yaakov Turner announced that the city would temporarily host the refugees.
