African refugees
צילום: שרון ברוורמן
We’ve become evil
Bill aimed at expelling African refugees sets new standards of cruelty
Less than two months ago, Exodus commander Yossi Harel passed away. He was eulogized and praised as a “giant” and one of the “greatest figures of his generation.”
Harel was one of the leaders of the Ha’apala movement, the Jewish immigration to Israel before the state’s establishment. He and others took upon themselves an almost holy mission: Taking the survivors of the Holocaust from the razed Europe and bringing them to a safe haven in the Land of Israel.
The moment they were brought onboard the ships, the Jewish refugees became known as “Maapilim.” Today they would be referred to as “infiltrators” and be treated as dangerous criminals; Harel and his comrades would therefore be considered as aiding and abetting a crime.
There is no accurate count of the number of African refugees that arrived in Israel in recent years. A generous estimate puts the figure at about 10,000. We are not talking about mass migration that is changing demographic realities.
The current Israeli government, which is seemingly premised on a humanistic and liberal center-left coalition, is racking its brains over what to do with them. At times it appears that only the Iranian threat occupies it more.
Several months ago the prime minister referred to them, with horror, as a “tsunami,” comparing a trickle of miserable souls to a terrible natural disaster. The ministers and bureaucrats were quick to adopt the same line. Several months ago, the Vilnai bill passed the first reading by a large majority. In a series of legal expressions, the bill regularizes the detainment, trial, punishment, and expulsion procedures of those dark enemies.
The language used is blood-curdling. The substance is draconian. “The bill on prevention of infiltration” officially turns Israeli into an evil empire.
We should be a shining light
This isn’t a simple issue. Coping with masses of asylum or job seekers from Third World countries is an issue shared by all Western countries. There is no argument that a sovereign state has the right to monitor who enters its gates. There is also no real argument regarding the series of problems and challenges posed by concentrations of deprived refugees. Yet there is a great an unthinkable leap from there to the standards of contempt and cruelty presented by the Vilnai bill.
This is certainly true for a state that is obliged by international laws and has signed several humanitarian conventions. This should certainly not be the case for a nation built on an ethos of immigration absorption and rescuing refugees.
The State of Israel, which for 60 years now has been preaching to the entire world what could and should have been done differently in the face of the most terrible humanitarian disaster in history, was supposed to lead the gentle and forgiving approach to refugees, whoever they are. We should have been a shining light; a light unto the nations.
Instead, Israel is now at the edge of a legal revolution that sets new standards of cruelty and heartlessness. The immense, multi-branch effort coordinated by the Vilnai bill in respect to the refugees raises just one question: Why not just shoot them?
