Israel has a problem with refugees. African refugees, to be specific.
South Tel Aviv is home to thousands of homeless men and women who trekked across the Sinai desert from Eritrea, Sudan, and even Somalia to escape conflict & wars that threatened their lives. Their journey is a dangerous one, because the Sinai desert (between Egypt and Israel) is largely lawless wilderness where people are commonly taken as hostages, severely tortured, and put up for ransom. The BBC has a recent article on this subject that you can read here. American embassy personnel are not even allowed to enter the Sinai, and trust me, we wouldn't want to. The refugees that do survive and cross the border into Israel are usually picked up by Israeli soldiers, and then sent to South TA.
This situation is a conundrum for Israel. On one hand, these Africans can't be left to die in the desert. So Israel allows these poor wanderers to stay here, dropping them off in a park near the Central Bus Station. This may not sound like much, but in all honesty, Israel is probably the only country in this region where they can go and not fear for their safety. On the other hand, it is quite clear that the refugees are not welcome in Israel, because the Israeli government makes no effort to put them to work or integrate them into Israeli society in any meaningful way. How long can the Jewish state allow non-Jews to simply wander over the border? These are tough questions with no easy answers.
The refugee problem also reveals an unpleasant racism that is prevalent in Israeli society. Refugees are called : "מסתננים" which translates to 'infiltrators'. Our dear friend Teddy, a pediatric neuro-surgeon from Ghana who works here at the main hospital in TA, deals with this every day. It seems that skin color alone is reason enough to require chest-X rays for TB just to enter the hospital these days (only required for blacks). Many residents in South Tel Aviv are furious that their neighborhoods are being overtaken and crime is rising dramatically (read more here). This is understandable. An abundance of unemployed male youth anywhere is a like ticking time-bomb for crime and drug use, and it is a problem that is thus far unsolved. Thankfully, some people are working towards solutions that benefit both the refugees and the country.
These pictures are from a women's refugee shelter in South TA where women and their children are cared for, given shelter, clothing, taught cooking, and even brought into the workforce. This is an
example of hand-made poufs and baskets sewn from discarded t-shirt scraps. We bought several.I recently stumbled across a verse in Deuteronomy that speaks to this situation. Deuteronomy 10:18 proclaims that God is just, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. Then it goes on to implore the Jews to love the stranger among them, "because you were strangers in the land of Egypt." This is a plain teaching directly from Hebrew scriptures that runs contrary to current attitudes towards the refugees (infiltrators). Thankfully, some Israelis see this idea as a central expression of Judiasm: clothing and feeding the poor and giving shelter to the homeless. "This is what it means to live in God's world" explains the director of the women's shelter. Feeding the hungry and clothing the orphans are the very reason that people volunteer and donate time and money to these Refugee Shelters. Hopefully this attitude will be contagious, but we're not holding our breath. This is just one more facet of an extremely complicated place.
| Shalom Y'all, Stew |
PS-Teddy wrote an Op Ed in the Jerusalem Post on his experiences here. It's an insider's view of what it feels like to be a person of color living in Tel Aviv. Teddy's Article is definitely worth reading.
Peace...
Deuteronomy 10:18-19
