Authorities round up South Sudanese ahead of mass deportation

Interior Minister Eli Yishai told Ynet, "What we witnessed today was just the beginning of the battle for the future of Israel. I'm certain that the court will also sanction the deportation of infiltrators from Eritrea and Sudan, who pose the main threat."

The Immigration Authority said the operation to arrest the 1,500 South Sudanese migrants will continue in the coming weeks. Some 60,000 illegal immigrants currently reside in Israel, including 35,000 Eritreans and 15,000 Sudanese nationals.

Earlier, Yishai said the campaign "is not aimed against infiltrators, but instead is meant to preserve Israel's character as a Zionist-Jewish country."

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4241088,00.html

Proof that the UN was right: Zionism is a form of racism.

The vote was 111-25.

And lo and behold there is an example in living color.

Can you see the Mayor of Los Angeles issuing a statement expressing the belief that Southern California is for the white man? He'd be run out of town immediately.

But not in Israel.

In practice, if not in precisely so many words.

And what about such commentators as Pat Buchanan, or Dan Pipes, who have come pretty close to saying the same sort of thing?

For that matter, I am sure the Mayor of Tel Aviv could not get away with such remarks either; but the far right parties are another matter. The big difference between Israel and some other countries is that proportional representation gives the nutcase parties too much influence.

In the UK, the Mayor of London (even though the current one is a prat) could never get away with such remarks; but the Mayor of Doncaster is a member of the English Democrats, an explicitly far-right xenophobic party.

Here is a better analogy: Theresa May says that "Muslims don't understand that Britain belongs to the white man." Now, what do you think would happen to her?

There is no plausible defense to this - the lame defenses of blatant racism are as sinister as the defenses of the Protocols and like nonsense.

I guess these Sudanese were unaware that Israel supported South African apartheid and even reported anti-apartheid activists to S.A.'s government for torture and killing. How ANY Black African would want to seek refuge in such a BLATANTLY RACIST cesspool totally confounds me. If they treat the Palestinians like dirt, why would they treat Black Africans any better. Probably as many indigenous were murdered and displaced by the blood thirsty zionists to form israel as Native Americans were in North America - all while eliciting PITY from the rest of the world for their mistreatment in Europe.

If Israel is indeed a "blatantly racist cesspool" as you claim, why do significant numbers of Sudanese, Eritreans, and South Sudanese subject themselves to so much risk and danger to reach Israel? Especially since they have already gotten out of their countries of origin and made it to Egypt. Why not just stay in Egypt?

I'd also be curious to know your source on the claim that "as many indigenous were murdered and displaced by the blood thirsty zionists to form israel as Native Americans were in North America" - I am not sure that statement is accurate. Do you have a source?

So where do you suggest that they seek refuge? Most countries have a horribly xenophobic attitude to refugees. While this is no excuse for the vile Eli Yishai, I am sure that these refugees would also have been subject to racism and the threats or reality of deportation in the UK or France or Australia. Seriously - where are you suggesting that these tragic people should go for refuge?

'all while eliciting PITY from the rest of the world for their mistreatment in Europe'.

I hope you are not suggesting that the world's horror at the Holocaust and the events that led up to it was somehow unjustified!

"Probably as many indigenous were murdered and displaced by the blood thirsty zionists to form israel "


I'd love to take a look at your citations -- if you have them handy.

just thought I'd let you know

Once again, this poster has snuck a Mondoweiss article underneath the initial one in the OP.

And once again the link is hidden by the word "more" instead of the name of the actual source - Mondoweiss.

it's hardly secret.

It is done with the first link but the second just has "more" instead of Mondoweiss.

the poster switches off quite frequently in fact here he uses more too

http://www.democraticunderground.com/113411723

and albeit you've commented on the thread nothing about that, perhaps something else kept you too busy?

But in that example, it is the OP - not an added second article like the one here.

You know how people sometimes claim that there are hasbarists posting here using a playbook and whatnot.

I wonder sometimes if that is true in reverse. Maybe I'm getting as paranoid as I claim other posters are!

Anyway, I've belabored the point enough. Not a huge deal really. Just think it's interesting in a trivial sort of way.

... even Mondoweiss readers are ashamed to admit it.

I think it's just a matter of being sneaky and trying to slip in sites like Mondoweiss into OPs - giving the impression that they are a legit source.

... hate sites like Mondoweiss weren't allowed. But, now, apparently, anything goes.

anything from antiwar.com to WhatReallyNeverHappened to frontpage.mag to Dan Pipes' site.

Not to mention whale.to and wakeupfromyourslumber outside the DU forum.

much like Electronic Intifada which is exactly how it is used here

Where you put the Mondoweiss article under a legit one and then don't identify the source in the link?

Was that trick pulled on the old DU? Maybe so, but I don't remember.

the first comment, in fact the technique of posting more from the OP by the poster of the OP is still used here on DU3 to get around the 4 paragraph rule at least by some who are so inclined as to the more thing as to it being a trick IMO it has become more of a joke of sorts

That sounds right.

Anyway, I say enough with the games - just post the article and the link and don't be sneaky about it.

But I think I've made that point already so I am happy to drop it.

Seems like this version is low on members.

Were there only 100 subscribers to the old version?

Even from a pragmatic point of view, couldn't they get rid of him from the government now that the new coalition has been formed? I note that others in the government are getting fed up with his unilateral foreign policy interference:

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/eli-yishai-under-fire-for-trying-to-conduct-his-own-foreign-policy-1.434193

In any case, he is a disgusting man, like all religious right-winger, whatever the religion.

I thought at first that his saying that Israel belongs to 'the white man' must have been added to the narrative by someone unreliable as the story got transmitted along the line of sources, but he does seem to have said something on those lines:

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israel-enacts-law-allowing-authorities-to-detain-illegal-migrants-for-up-to-3-years-1.434127

Bizarre, especially as many Israelis are not 'white' (indeed most of the voters for Yishai's party are any rate not Europaean); and of course quite unacceptable. He talks and acts like someone from the LePen family!


Someone sack this xenophobic twerp NOW!

Would he not be considered a "person of color" if he lived in the United States?

In any case, I'd be curious to read the actual interview itself. Was it in Hebrew or English? The Ha'aretz article doesn't say (and doesn't link to the interview). Would you by any chance have a link?

is Her. Looks like he said it, alright (surprising really, gven that many of his constituents - and depending on location, Yishai himself wouldn't be considered "white")

The whole interview is even worse than the excerpt.

haven't you claimed in the past not to able to read Hebrew?

Have you ever tried that? It's pretty awesome.

it's good for Germanic languages but the further away from those you move the worse it gets

But you can still pick up the gist of it.

Better to read the whole thing translated poorly than just a quote or two from another paper.

In any case, the interview is ugly.

<snip>

"Israeli immigration authorities said on Thursday that they had arrested 300 African illegal immigrants since the start of a nationwide crackdown on Sunday and that the operation was continuing.

“Three hundred were arrested and more than another 300 signed a pledge to return voluntarily,” Population and Migration Authority spokeswoman Sabine Hadad told AFP.

She did not give a breakdown of nationalities, but said that the majority of both groups were South Sudanese.

“Those who signed were almost all from South Sudan,” she said. “Those who were arrested were mainly from South Sudan, but not only; there were also people from Nigeria, from Ghana, from the Ivory Coast, from Moldova, the Philippines.”

She said that the authority had now ended a week-long offer under which those agreeing to be repatriated receive a plane ticket and a grant of 1,000 euros ($1,250) per family.

The first planeload of South Sudanese to be sent back was to leave on a flight for the capital, Juba, on Sunday evening, Hadad said."

http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/06/14/220681.html

All requests from refugees and illegal migrants from Africa to convert to Judaism have been rejected over the past year, according to a source in the Prime Minister's Office.

The source could not provide exact figures but said "many dozens" of such requests were rejected. Conversion falls under the auspices of the PMO.

"Dozens of Africans come straight to our offices in Tel Aviv, try to convince us to allow them to submit a request that would be examined by an exceptions committee," a PMO official said on the sidelines of the PMO conversion department's annual convention last week. "Of course, all the requests were rejected."

Rabbi Seth Farber, the founder and director of Itim, which advocates on behalf of those who need help navigating Israel's religious bureaucracy, said the main problem is the exceptions committee itself.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/dozens-of-african-migrants-denied-request-to-convert-to-judaism-1.436992

Defense Ministry looks to exempt construction of refugee camps in southern Israel from almost all planning regulations; national planning body to discuss proposal on Tuesday.

<snip>

"The National Building and Planning Council will consider exempting the construction of refugee camps in the south from almost all planning regulations on Tuesday. The Defense Ministry has asked the council to exempt the Israel Defense Forces and the ministry's construction division from approval by the local authority and its construction committee engineer.

The ministry says the move, together with other proposed changes in the plans for the camps, are intended "to meet the tight schedule to implement the cabinet's decision" to build the camp for African refugees crossing the Egyptian border into Israel.

But the Bimkom planning rights group says the exemption and changes would create "a huge concentration camp with harsh conditions. The changes would enable the imprisonment of thousands of people in tents for three years or more, in difficult physical conditions and extreme climate conditions."

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-seeks-to-build-tent-camp-for-african-migrants-with-no-sewage-or-proper-facilities.premium-1.437205

Three months ago, Interior Minister Eli Yishai deported several hundred families from Israel to South Sudan, despite unequivocal statements by human rights group that mere fact of the established state is far from the offering the safety that would allow for these families’ return; the request was at least to extend the group exemption from deportation – Israel’s mechanism of neither denying nor granting asylum – a few months longer. Even that demand was ignored. The deportees’ baggage, all 14 tons of it, was delayed for two months and kept at a warehouse in Israel, simply because the state felt that it could not be bothered to bear the expenses of sending it along. In the baggage was medicine collected for the families by Israeli volunteers from Israeli donors; it was only finally sent to South Sudan a week or so ago, but not before reports began to surface which claimed that immigration officials were helping themselves to the more precious possessions from the pile.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Within a week, the deportee children – Israeli children, either born or raised in Israel, speaking better Hebrew than most of this government’s apologists in the United States – began to die. So far, at least seven of them have succumbed to disease.

...................................................

On a systemic level, the deaths of these children is the product of Israel’s immigration policy – one of the narrowest, most rigid policies of its kind in any loosely democratic country. On a cultural level, their death and the public complacency over the deportation which lead to it to produce a culture of fear, that conflates absolute hegemony with survival, and makes adult human beings think that a family like this actually poses a risk to the future of this country.

But there is also personal responsibility involved here: Yishai used his power of discretion to order the deportation of these children. I’m finding it difficult to point to any reason but populism: There was no law obliging him to deport them, nor a pressing financial need to do so. Israel, which prides itself so much on its relatively robust economic situation, could well have tolerated several hundred families, most of them with working or able parents, and even to take care of the few, like the late Noah and Nian, who needed medical attention. And at any rate, the economic side of their predicament hardly came into play.

http://972mag.com/israeli-children-deported-to-south-sudan-succumb-to-malaria/57287/