Israelis support government policy of expelling Sudanese refugees
Recent poll indicates Israeli public favors stated government policy of expelling majority of more than 1,500 African infiltrators currently in Israel. Study finds disparities along age and gender lines as well as religious and geographical divide. Meanwhile Amnesty Israel launches internet campaign petitioning interior minister to protect refugees
Forty-seven percent of Israelis support the government's intention to expel the majority of infiltrators from Africa while only 39% oppose the policy. A poll conducted by the Kevoon Institute found that of those polled 14% percent were undecided.
The question posed to over 500 adult Jewish Israelis was: "Over the past year 1,500 refugees from the Sudan have illegally entered Israel. The government believes most of them have come here looking for work. While the refugees claim they are escaping persecution and genocide and returning would mean certain death. Recently the government of Israel adopted a policy to deport most of the refugees to Egypt soon. Do you support the government's policy of deporting the Sudanese refugees or do you think that they should be allowed to legally stay in Israel?"
A breakdown of the data found that 42% of women opposed the policy whereas only 36% of men said the same. A majority of men, 54%, were in favor of the government's policy compared to 40% of women.
Attitudes towards religion also seem to play a role, the study found that the more religious the individual, the more likely they were to support the government's policy.
Of those who identified themselves as strictly Orthodox, 67% were in favor of expulsion compared to 13% who opposed it. Among respondents who identified themselves as religious, 55% were in favor of expulsion compared to 35% who were opposed. Similar figures were noted for respondents who defined themselves as traditional – 52% favored expulsion compared to 31% who opposed it.
The only sector where support for the government's policy was the minority opinion was among secular respondents – 39% favored expulsion compared to 49% who opposed it.
Geographical differences also factored in, residents of the central Sharon region were the strongest supporters of expulsion (68%) whereas in northern Israel only 38% said the same.
Amnesty Israel launches campaign for refugees
Meanwhile Amnesty's Israel branch launched an internet campaign on Monday pleading with Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit to refrain from incarcerating infiltrators and conduct an inquiry into the status of every individual claiming to be a refugee fleeing persecution without bias pertaining to his country of origin.
"Over the past few decades we have witnessed Israel's 'no-policy' policy regarding refugees, that policy ultimately only damages the rights of many asylum seekers. The Sudanese refugees who fled their homeland deserve care and to be treated fairly, the State has a responsibility to examine their stories in-depth and make a decision regarding their right to be protected in Israel," said Amnesty activism and campaign coordinator Ilan Lonai.
"We can't continue conducting ourselves in this manner, throwing asylum seekers to the streets, mayors dumping them in front of the Knesset and the only ones who take in women and children are concerned citizens and student volunteers. And meanwhile the only thing the State is doing is building a detainment facility near Ketziot and leaning on the Egyptian authorities to prevent the entry of more African refugees – and that demand proved itself last week when Egyptian soldiers killed four Sudanese refugees on the border.
Egypt denied shooting the refugees.
"To change this abysmal situation we ask the public to join our campaign and demand of the internal affairs minister to prevent the opening of the detainment center and provide Sudanese asylum seekers with adequate care."
