Olmert calls for shooting African refugees entering Israel
Yes, you read the title right. I cannot say that I am shocked at this horrific development.
The following report was conducted by Ben Lynfield in Jerusalem. I’ve no link as Ben has sent it to me via e-mail. I thought I’d post this and hope that some of you could also pass this alarming news along.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has suggested that the army open fire on African refugees crossing into Israel to stem what he depicted as a “tsunami” of asylum seekers threatening the Jewish state’s future.
According to Israeli media reports, Mr. Olmert on Sunday instructed his defense minister, Ehud Barak, yesterday to prevent “at any price” the entry of asylum seekers from Egypt, including by “use of reasonable force.”
Asked if this meant opening fire on the refugees, Mark Regev, a spokesman for Mr. Olmert said “No one wants to see any harm come to anyone, but we can’t have a situation where because the economic situation is Israel is better and because Israel has a land border with Africa you can have a constant flow of people coming in looking for jobs.”
The call was condemned as “inhuman” by refugee rights advocates and “illegal” by Israel’s main civil rights group, the Association for Citizens Rights in Israel.
“Olmert is forgetting what happened to the Jewish people which not long ago went through the same thing these refugees are going through,” said Johannes Bayou, head of the Tel Aviv based Center for African Refugee Development
Seven thousand African refugees, mostly Sudanese and Eritrean nationals, have crossed illegally from Egypt during the past two years, with many of them explaining they were driven by persecution and danger. Israel has granted residency to 600 refugees from Darfur but says all the others are “economic migrants” The Sudanese include refugees from that country’s civil war, which took the lives of two million people, while the Eritreans fled compulsory lifetime military service for males. Both groups say they faced maltreatment in Egypt. Two thousand five hundred people have come to Israel in the last two months, undeterred by Egypt’s policy of shooting refugees caught trying to cross the border in the upper body and head.
Mr. Olmert also said Sunday that he favors reviving a policy of immediate forced return of refugees to Egypt despite the disastrous consequences of this when it was tried before.. Out of 48 refugees returned by Israel to Egypt last August twenty were sent back to Sudan, according to an Egyptian official The penalty for travel to Israel is protracted imprisonment or execution, according to Ahmed Elzobier of the London based Darfur Centre for Human Rights. The other refugees are still missing after being arrested by Egyptian forces on August 19.
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It could be good if you could provide a source for the shooting quote. Triggered by this post i searched but i could not find anything online. I did find the “reasonable force” and the “immediate deportation” quotes, but nothing about shooting… Thanks!
If he really said that he has lost it. These people have done nothing to intentionally harm him or Israel.
I can’t see Israel shooting refugees seeking asylum, or even seeking employment. If Olmert even tried to do such a thing, which I don’t think will happen, his political foes would use this to bring him down. It also doesn’t make sense that a country that took 600 refugees in, would also act in such a ruthless manner. A country has a right to control its borders, using “reasonable force,” but not to murder those who seek asylum, or employment. Perhaps the quote was taken out of context, or perhaps words were uttered haphazardly, with no intent to act upon them. I am not trying to be an apologist. I just don’t see it happening from what I know about Israel.
I live here in Israel and have not heard this. Remember, things take on a life of their own on the internet. Recently, a Passover seder was held for Darfur and Eritrean refugees. And kibbutz schools are taking in Darfur and Eritrean kids so their education won’t be interrupted.
I just saw you’re on Facebook!! Great!!