Foreign Ministry presents: 'A safe haven for refugees'
Have you calmed down from the ad campaign of female soldiers in bikinis enticing tourists to Israel? Then here is a new campaign from the Foreign Ministry. An announcement was published on its English website - and was immediately removed after Ynet requested a response - announcing that the State of Israel is investing great efforts in absorbing the refugees from Sudan. The Foreign Ministry: It is a plan that has yet to be authorized
“Israel has a unique historical experience dealing with survivors of genocide”, begins an official announcement published on the Foreign Ministry’s English website which was immediately removed after Ynet approached the ministry for a response.
“There is a special sensitivity to this subject and as a result, in an extraordinary step, the state has accepted the responsibility to absorb 500 refugees who have escaped terrible murder in Darfur. We call upon the international community to adopt similar steps to find places, safe havens, and permanent homes for people escaping genocide”.
A picture of refugee children provided by Reuters accompanied this announcement. “Sudanese children from the Darfur region who have crossed the border with Egypt eating lunch in a tent in southern Israel” reads the caption.
However, the matter-of-fact caption does not point out that this “tent in southern Israel” is located on Moshav Kadesh Barnea, in a refugee complex established by Avishai Pinchas who lives in the community. For the past few weeks the Pinchas home has also served as home to dozens of Sudanese, without any financial support from the government.
Someone who is not aware of the way that Israel is shirking its responsibility for the hundreds of refugees who have arrived at its door, may think that Pinchas’ initiative is part of an official policy from the same people who used female soldiers in bikinis to entice tourists to vacation in Israel.
“The Israeli Foreign Ministry has initiated an assistance program for the refugees from Darfur and Sudan”, continued the announcement. “In addition to the aid given through private organizations to those seeking shelter in Israel, as part of the state’s participation in the global effort, Israel has donated products and supplies through the UN agencies in order to answer the need on the ground”.
The announcement which was removed
'The State is boasting about its hospitality'
The vague wording of the announcement mentions that the refugees who arrive in Israel are citizens of a country that has no diplomatic ties with Israel, and has an al-Qaeda presence. Despite this, “The State of Israel, home to the Jewish people who have suffered terribly from persecution, cannot remain indifferent to the suffering of others. As long as the status of the refugees is unclear, we are doing everything to make their stay in Israel less difficult”.
And what about the expulsion to Egypt of 46 African asylum seekers who were caught infiltrating to Israel last week? The announcement, which was sent to the foreign press, ends with the explanation that “they were returned as part of the Olmert-Mubarak agreement and under the supervision of the UN Refugee Commission”. Incidentally, in a paragraph before that explanation, the Foreign Ministry announces “a few hundred asylum seekers arrived in Israel from Sudan. Israel does not send any of them back”.
The volunteers and humanitarian organizations, which have been straining under the burden of absorbing these refugees for the past year, found this announcement to be outrageous.
“This is a scandal”, fumes Vered Cohen-Barzilai, spokesperson for the Amnesty organization in Israel. “The State of Israel, that does not take care of the refugees and even imprisons them, is boasting to the world about its hospitality”. Sigal Rozen from the “Hot Line for Migrant Workers” added that the same refugees, whom the Foreign Ministry is boasting about, were held in prison for many months.
“Had it not been for the super human efforts of the humanitarian organizations and UN Commission, not a single refugee would have been released from prison. The State is taking credit for something it does not deserve.”
In response, Aviv Shiron, the deputy director of communications at the Foreign Ministry, said: “The information that appears on the web site should change. It is discussing a program that the foreign minister was requested by the Prime Minister to implement, but it has not yet been approved and it has been placed on the desk of the general assembly”. As was noted, the announcement was removed from the site.
