Africans and Israel: Black in the “White Man’s Country”
Israel is giving its African guests the boot.
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Africans and Israel: Black in the “White Man’s Country” - Israel has taken a hard line stance against its undocumented African immigrants, many who came to the country seeking freedom from oppression or better employment opportunities. BET.com takes a look at recent developments in the tense tug of war between Israel’s struggle to seal its borders and migrants trying to gain acceptance and forgiveness in a foreign land. — Naeesa Aziz(Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah)
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Israel Belongs to "The White Man" - Amid the height of accusations that African migrants were wantonly raping Israeli women, the country’s interior minister Eli Yishai said that all undocumented immigrants should be locked up, saying that the migrants don’t believe, "this country belongs to us, to the white man.”(Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad)
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"Illegal Infiltrators" - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the country’s thousands of African immigrants, "illegal infiltrators," enflaming the already violent tensions that are growing between the Israeli public and the African population."If we don't stop their entry, the problem … threatens our existence as a Jewish and democratic state," Netanyahu said May 20. "This phenomenon is very grave and threatens the social fabric of society, our national security and our national identity."(Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun)
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Shipped Out and Locked Up - On June 3, the Israeli government passed new laws that allows authorities to jail migrants for up to three years and sets the penalty for people helping or sheltering migrants at 15 years in prison. And just one day later, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the deportation of 25,000 migrants, primarily those from South Sudan, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Ethiopia, many of whom fled their home countries fearing persecution.(Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun)
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Firebombed - Tensions reached a crescendo on June 4, when a Jerusalem apartment building that was home to ten Eritreans was firebombed by an anonymous person. Graffiti sprayed on the walls of the building said: "Get out of the neighborhood." The attack followed a series of similar attacks in an African neighborhood in Tel Aviv.(Photo: REUTERS/Darren Whiteside)
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Protests Fuel Hate - Israeli protests against African migrants have increased in frequency and hostility with one resulting in an “unbridled rampage” on May 24 as protesters attacked African workers and looted stores serving the African community. (Photo: AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Photo By Photo: AP Photo/Ariel Schalit
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Accusations of Rape - A chief complaint of Israel opponents to African migration is the alleged raping of Israeli women that African migrants are accused of committing. In light of statistics that show the scourge of African perpetrated rapes have been exaggerated, Interior Minister Eli Yishai said that many Israeli women have been raped by migrant workers “but do not complain out of fear of being stigmatized as having contracted AIDS.” (Photo: AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)