'From the moment these people landed here, we have a sort of responsibility towards them'
Photo: Motti Kimchi
Sentenced to death
Op-ed: Israel must deal with mess it created rather than send African migrants to third country
I have a confession to make: As a resident of southern Tel Aviv, my patience towards the African refugees has worn thin in recent years. I don't understand why my children have to play in a regular Israeli playground while a young Sudanese man is sprawled on the floor completely drunk.
Flooding the neighborhoods with tens of thousands of young men who are allowed to stay there but are forbidden to work demonstrates the government's outrageous irresponsibility towards tax-paying and law-abiding Israeli citizens, who left their house one morning to discover that they are living in Africa. It's not the Africans' fault – they were simply looking for a better life for themselves. It's the fault of those who took them in without any planning.
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Because the moment they entered Israel – and at the moment it doesn't matter which government failure made this situation possible – and even settled in the country, the government cannot just pack them up as if they were defective goods and throw them in some "third country" – unless we are talking about Switzerland. And we are not talking about Switzerland, because if that were the case its identity would not be kept a secret. Keeping it a secret testifies to the nature of that "third country." And if indeed it is, as rumor has it, South Sudan – how many of them are we sentencing to death?
In other words, one mistake is not solved through another mistake. And the mess created by our clumsy government should be dealt with here rather than thrown into our neighbors' backyard. From the moment these people landed here, we have a sort of responsibility towards them. What if a terrible epidemic breaks out among them tomorrow – will we not treat them in our hospitals?
What should be done? At least the minimum, which has yet to be done so far. First of all, we must check their papers and see who has the status of a refugee and who is just an infiltrator. Then take in, under temporary status, those entitled to it for humanitarian reasons. And how should we treat the rest? The same way we would have liked to be treated had we been as unlucky as they are.
