Rabbis attack deportations - in Israhell

[yankeedoodle]

Well, they wrote a letter.  Wonder if they would do much more than that, such as support the BDS movement. 

100s of US rabbis urge Israel to halt deportation of African migrants
https://www.rt.com/news/417309-african-migrants-israel-letter-rabbis/

More than 800 rabbis and other Jewish clergy in the US have signed a letter calling on Israel to reverse its plan to deport African migrants, arguing the asylum seekers are "escaping torture, enslavement, and war."

"As a country founded by refugees, and whose early leaders helped to craft the 1951 International Convention on the Status of Refugees, Israel must not deport those seeking asylum within its borders," reads the letter, which was written by the Jewish groups New Israel Fund, HIAS, T'ruah, and Right Now.

"We Jews know far too well what happens when the world closes its doors to those forced to flee their homes," the letter continues. "The asylum seekers who have come to Israel are escaping torture, enslavement, and war. We are angered by reports that many of those who have been deported to Africa have already suffered rape, robbery, torture, and human trafficking."

It goes on to urge the Israeli government to "start living up to Israel's international responsibilities" outlined in the International Convention on the Status of Refugees. Such details include "providing asylum seekers a fair chance to file applications for refugee status, and refraining from deporting asylum seekers to countries that cannot guarantee their safety."

The letter calls on the government to review asylum seeker applications in an "effective, fair, transparent, and impartial manner." Jewish rabbis, cantors, and rabbinical or cantorial students are all invited to sign the document online.

It comes after the Knesset last month approved an amendment to the so-called "Infiltrator's Law," which paved the way for the deportations of Eritrean and Sudanese migrants and asylum seekers. Those deportations are due to begin in March.

Migrants who choose to leave by March 31 will receive a payment of US$3,500, as well as free airfare and other incentives, according to reports cited by Israeli media. Those who refuse to leave voluntarily face imprisonment at Holot Prison until they are forcibly deported. The initiative is expected to last two years.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also announced deals to send migrants to third-party countries in Africa, reportedly Rwanda or Uganda, but has refused to confirm the nations involved in the agreements.

In November, Rwandan Foreign Affairs Minister Louise Mushikiwabo said the country could accept approximately 10,000 asylum seekers from Israel. Tel Aviv will reportedly pay $5,000 to the Rwandan government for each deported migrant.

The most recent letter follows a similar call from Jewish groups in November, in which they urged Netanyahu to reconsider the deportation plans. His office responded in December, defending the plans, stating that "the overwhelming majority of the illegal migrants who have arrived in Israel over the past decade are neither refugees nor asylum seekers, but rather economic migrants who have come to Israel in search of work."

In response, the groups drafted another letter on January 8 with cited statistics and scrutinized Israel's current policies. "The fact that fewer than one percent of Sudanese and Eritrean asylum applicants in Israel have received refugee status casts serious doubts on the validity of Israel's asylum process as it currently stands," the groups wrote.

There are an estimated 38,000 African migrants and asylum seekers in Israel, according to the country's interior ministry. About 72 percent are Eritrean, while 20 percent are Sudanese. The majority of migrants arrived between 2006 and 2012.

[yankeedoodle]

Netanyahu vs Soros: Billionaire accused of trying to thwart Israel's migrant-deportation plan
https://www.rt.com/news/417965-netanyahu-soros-israel-migrants/

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that billionaire George Soros is funding efforts to oppose the country's plan to deport thousands of African migrants – an accusation that the philanthropist denies.

Netanyahu told Likud ministers on Sunday that Soros, who is known for his deep-pocketed philanthropy and political contributions towards "progressive" causes, is bankrolling a campaign to undermine Israel's plan to deport thousands of African migrants.

"George Soros is also funding the protests. Obama deported two million infiltrators and they didn't say anything," Netanyahu told the ministers, according to Haaretz.

A spokesman for the billionaire pushed back against Netanyahu's claim, telling Haaretz that while Soros is not funding protests in the country, he nonetheless "adamantly believes that, in accordance with the 1951 Refugee Convention and international law, it is wrong to forcibly send asylum seekers back to countries where they might be persecuted or killed."

Last year, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban ran a billboard campaign aimed at Soros, accusing him of using "his wealth, power, influence and a network of non-governmental organizations" to flood the European Union and Hungary with migrants. At the time, the Israeli Foreign Ministry called for the end of the campaign, citing "perceived anti-Semitism."

Israel has started issuing deportation orders to African migrants, giving them 60 days to leave the country or face jail time. Israel is currently home to approximately 38,000 African migrants and asylum seekers, most of them Eritrean and Sudanese. Since 2007, some 60,000 migrants have entered the country through its desert border with Egypt. Israel constructed a 245km fence on the frontier in 2013 in an attempt to curb the inflow.

Soros, a Hungarian-born Jew, is not alone in his opposition to the Israeli policy. At the end of January, more than 800 rabbis and other Jewish clergy in the US signed a letter calling on Israel to reverse its plan to deport African migrants, arguing the asylum seekers are "escaping torture, enslavement, and war."