24 june 2018
Israel he has started consulting with leaders of some regional countries regarding a plan to build a railway linking the Saudi capital, Riyadh, with Haifa in Israel, as part of the deal of the century (peace plan) that the US seeks to force the Palestinians to accept.
According to The Times of Israel newspaper, Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu and his transportation minister Israel Katz agreed this week to begin promoting what they called their “Tracks for Regional Peace” initiative that will create a trade route connecting Europe with the Arab Gulf and Israel.
“Tracks for Regional Peace” is based on the planned extension of railway tracks in northern Israel, which would link Haifa’s seaport to Jordan’s rail network, which in turn will be linked with that of Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Arab states.
The plan, which may be secretly backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, is allegedly aimed at creating a regional transportation system to enhance trade relations and promote peaceful coexistence between Gulf states and Israel.
Introduced in a new video released by Netanyahu and Katz’s offices, the initiative will see the eastward extension of the Haifa-Beit She’an rail line to the Jordanian border and will also include a stop in Jenin, connecting the Palestinians to the broader plan.
Goods would be shipped from Europe to Haifa, allowing them to bypass civil war-torn Syria.
“There are two central components at the heart of this initiative,” Katz explained when revealing the plan for the first time in April 2017. “Israel as a land bridge between Europe and the Mediterranean and Jordan; and Jordan as a regional transportation hub, which will be connected to a railroad system to Israel and the Mediterranean in the West; to Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states and Iraq in the East and southeast; and to the Red Sea, through Aqaba and Eilat, in the south.”
“Beyond its contribution to Israel’s economy, the Jordanian and the Palestinian economies, the initiative will connect Israel economically and politically to the region and will consolidate the pragmatic camp in the region,” he claimed.
The existing transportation infrastructure in Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf will allow for the application of the initiative in a relatively short amount of time, the video said.
The initiative is said to also offer shorter, cheaper, and safer trade routes in light of regional instability threatening passageways through the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf and the Bab al-Mandab Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea.
In a meeting this week, Katz and Netanyahu reached an agreement regarding the details of the initiative, with the latter instructing his office to begin advancing the plan in consultations with the US, European Union, and various countries in the Middle East and Asia.
According to The Times of Israel newspaper, Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu and his transportation minister Israel Katz agreed this week to begin promoting what they called their “Tracks for Regional Peace” initiative that will create a trade route connecting Europe with the Arab Gulf and Israel.
“Tracks for Regional Peace” is based on the planned extension of railway tracks in northern Israel, which would link Haifa’s seaport to Jordan’s rail network, which in turn will be linked with that of Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Arab states.
The plan, which may be secretly backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, is allegedly aimed at creating a regional transportation system to enhance trade relations and promote peaceful coexistence between Gulf states and Israel.
Introduced in a new video released by Netanyahu and Katz’s offices, the initiative will see the eastward extension of the Haifa-Beit She’an rail line to the Jordanian border and will also include a stop in Jenin, connecting the Palestinians to the broader plan.
Goods would be shipped from Europe to Haifa, allowing them to bypass civil war-torn Syria.
“There are two central components at the heart of this initiative,” Katz explained when revealing the plan for the first time in April 2017. “Israel as a land bridge between Europe and the Mediterranean and Jordan; and Jordan as a regional transportation hub, which will be connected to a railroad system to Israel and the Mediterranean in the West; to Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states and Iraq in the East and southeast; and to the Red Sea, through Aqaba and Eilat, in the south.”
“Beyond its contribution to Israel’s economy, the Jordanian and the Palestinian economies, the initiative will connect Israel economically and politically to the region and will consolidate the pragmatic camp in the region,” he claimed.
The existing transportation infrastructure in Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf will allow for the application of the initiative in a relatively short amount of time, the video said.
The initiative is said to also offer shorter, cheaper, and safer trade routes in light of regional instability threatening passageways through the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf and the Bab al-Mandab Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea.
In a meeting this week, Katz and Netanyahu reached an agreement regarding the details of the initiative, with the latter instructing his office to begin advancing the plan in consultations with the US, European Union, and various countries in the Middle East and Asia.
22 june 2018
When Boris and Bella Nudelman accidentally gave Hotel Ristorante Italia a 5 out of 10 star rating, the hotel wrote to them telling them not to complain when Nazis return to Europe. 'There's a reson for it ... you'; Hotel promptly removed from online booking site.
A Jewish couple that accidentally gave an Italian hotel a low rating received in response anti-Semitic mail, saying that “Jews are never satisfied” and that they should not complain if Nazis return to Europe.
Bella and Boris Nudelman, together with two other couples, stayed in the Hotel Ristorante Italia in the Certosa di Pavia, and had only positive feedback after their one-night stay.
“The hotel was really nice and we enjoyed it there. When we left, we received from the booking website “Booking.com” a request to rate our stay there. It was at the same time as we were driving and by accident, without paying attention, I gave the hotel five out of ten stars,” Bella said.
A short while later, the hotel responded with hateful outrage to the rating.
“You Jews are never satisfied! Don’t complain when Nazis and fascists return to Europe. There is a reason for it … You!” the abusive email written in English said.
“It was simply terrible to receive the email,” Bella said. “If the hotel had called us to ask why we had given them five stars, we would have explained that it was a mistake. But to say that Jews are guilty for what happens in Europe? That’s way too far.”
After returning to Israel, the couple sent a letter to Booking.com, attached the abusive email from the hotel and asked that it be removed from its list of accomodation.
After reviewing the email, the bookings website agreed to remove the Hotel Ristorante Italia from its listing.
“We do not tolerate discrimination of this kind,” a statement from Booking.com said. “The moment that we were informed about the things that were said to our customers by one of the places of accommodation, we looked into the matter and closed access to the hotel on our website.”
Hotel Ristorante Italia also followed up with a statement of its own, apologizing for the incident.
“We take extremely seriously the disgraceful behavior by the worker who sent the email, and he has been suspended from his job,” the statement said.
“Nothing justifies his email, regardless of what rating was given by the customer on the bookings website. We will soon contact the Israeli customers and ask that they forgive us and think of a way to compensate them.”
A Jewish couple that accidentally gave an Italian hotel a low rating received in response anti-Semitic mail, saying that “Jews are never satisfied” and that they should not complain if Nazis return to Europe.
Bella and Boris Nudelman, together with two other couples, stayed in the Hotel Ristorante Italia in the Certosa di Pavia, and had only positive feedback after their one-night stay.
“The hotel was really nice and we enjoyed it there. When we left, we received from the booking website “Booking.com” a request to rate our stay there. It was at the same time as we were driving and by accident, without paying attention, I gave the hotel five out of ten stars,” Bella said.
A short while later, the hotel responded with hateful outrage to the rating.
“You Jews are never satisfied! Don’t complain when Nazis and fascists return to Europe. There is a reason for it … You!” the abusive email written in English said.
“It was simply terrible to receive the email,” Bella said. “If the hotel had called us to ask why we had given them five stars, we would have explained that it was a mistake. But to say that Jews are guilty for what happens in Europe? That’s way too far.”
After returning to Israel, the couple sent a letter to Booking.com, attached the abusive email from the hotel and asked that it be removed from its list of accomodation.
After reviewing the email, the bookings website agreed to remove the Hotel Ristorante Italia from its listing.
“We do not tolerate discrimination of this kind,” a statement from Booking.com said. “The moment that we were informed about the things that were said to our customers by one of the places of accommodation, we looked into the matter and closed access to the hotel on our website.”
Hotel Ristorante Italia also followed up with a statement of its own, apologizing for the incident.
“We take extremely seriously the disgraceful behavior by the worker who sent the email, and he has been suspended from his job,” the statement said.
“Nothing justifies his email, regardless of what rating was given by the customer on the bookings website. We will soon contact the Israeli customers and ask that they forgive us and think of a way to compensate them.”
21 june 2018
Dozens of Palestinians rallied on Wednesday evening in Lod city to protest Israel’s arbitrary demolition policy and abrupt crackdowns in the area.
The rally staged by the Popular Committee in Lod city called for intensifying efforts to face up to Israel’s demolition policy, often perpetrated under the pretext of unlicensed construction.
The rally also spoke out against the oppressive measures and ethnic cleansing agenda pursued by the Lod municipality against Palestinians living in the area.
The demonstrators urged the municipality, among other Israeli bodies in Lod, to grant the Palestinians construction permits.
The rally staged by the Popular Committee in Lod city called for intensifying efforts to face up to Israel’s demolition policy, often perpetrated under the pretext of unlicensed construction.
The rally also spoke out against the oppressive measures and ethnic cleansing agenda pursued by the Lod municipality against Palestinians living in the area.
The demonstrators urged the municipality, among other Israeli bodies in Lod, to grant the Palestinians construction permits.
19 june 2018
An Israeli delegation is reportedly due to travel to Bahrain later this month for a UNESCO event in Manama.
Mounir Bushnaki, an adviser for the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities, told The Bahraini daily Akhbar al-Khaleej that Manama will host the Israeli delegation for the 42nd World Heritage Committee session scheduled to be held in the Bahraini capital between June 24 and July 4.
“An Israeli delegation will attend the meetings because this is an international meeting organized by UNESCO and Bahrain is just the host,” he said.
He also noted that any member of the UN “has the right to participate, including Israel,” claiming that Bahrain would avoid politicizing the event.
Bahrain has no formal diplomatic relations with the Israeli occupation, but senior officials from the two sides have reportedly had secret contacts in recent years.
Manama’s overtures to Israel have been met with strong public scrutiny, with people in the Persian Gulf kingdom holding numerous protest rallies against normalization of ties with Israel.
Mounir Bushnaki, an adviser for the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities, told The Bahraini daily Akhbar al-Khaleej that Manama will host the Israeli delegation for the 42nd World Heritage Committee session scheduled to be held in the Bahraini capital between June 24 and July 4.
“An Israeli delegation will attend the meetings because this is an international meeting organized by UNESCO and Bahrain is just the host,” he said.
He also noted that any member of the UN “has the right to participate, including Israel,” claiming that Bahrain would avoid politicizing the event.
Bahrain has no formal diplomatic relations with the Israeli occupation, but senior officials from the two sides have reportedly had secret contacts in recent years.
Manama’s overtures to Israel have been met with strong public scrutiny, with people in the Persian Gulf kingdom holding numerous protest rallies against normalization of ties with Israel.
After being slammed in the media for his obscure views on LGBT community and Pride Parade, Yoel Yeshurun removes his homophobic Facebook post, but refuses to apologize; Holon Mayor Moti Sasson says he regrets his deputy's comments, which don't reflect the city's perception and policy.
Holon's Deputy Mayor Yoel Yeshurun, who serves as the dean of the Ashkelon Academic College, published a homophobic post on his Facebook page against the Gay Pride Parade and the LGBT community last week.
Yashurun lashed out at Tel Aviv's Mayor Ron Huldai, calling him "a wiry old man," whose Judaism is questionable, and claimed the media portrays "those crazy people" as the "standard-bearers (of liberalism)," although they are people of "darkness and barbarity coming from hell."
Yeshurun removed his offensive post on Sunday after withstanding harsh social media criticism.
"Tel Aviv has nurtured wild weeds, monsters resembling to those in the Jurassic Park movie whose small distorted minds orchestrated parades of two-legged vile repulsive animals," Yeshurun wrote.
"At the top of the tower stands a wiry old man, a gourmet-lover whose Judaism is questionable. He celebrates by eating dog meat, causing the Jewish people to hurl on his plate," he said.
"And the dog-eater's city? There, on Tel Aviv's streets those two-legged animals walk proudly, deeply disturbed, those who lay with men as well as ugly female animals with 'I'm a slut' tattoos!!!" he hatefully added.
Yeshurun accused the media of supporting the LGBT community and portraying them as freedom, liberty, and equality fighters.
"Hasn't the media understood yet it is representing only fragments of the population and most of the nation is revolted by these animal parades?" he charged.
When commenting on his malicious post, Yeshurun said, "I wrote this post on my private Facebook post, and I'm not taking back what I wrote."
"My words weren't aimed, not even by a hint, at the LGBT community, rather at the parades and their extraversion," he explained.
"The LGBT community itself criticizes those parades and the damage they do to its own struggle (for equality)," Holon's deputy mayor added.
Holon Mayor Moti Sasson said the post published on Facebook "is the deputy mayor's personal opinion, which of course doesn't reflect Holon and its mayor's perception and policy.
"We can only regret the things that were said," Sasson concluded.
The Ashkelon Academic College also issued a statement saying, "Yoel Yeshurun wrote his post on his private Facebook page. As a citizen in a democratic country, Mr. Yeshurun Is allowed to express his views and we don't see the need to intervene in the matter."
Holon City Council Member Israel Moran said Yeshurun's post was revolting and disgusting. "He said harsh, vile, and unacceptable things."
Two weeks ago, in anticipation of the Gay Pride Parade in Tel Aviv, a teacher employed in the secular Rafael Eitan high school in Ramat Gan asked his students to read the book of Psalms for "God to save us from the shame and the disgrace."
The teacher wrote in the Students' WhatsApp group: "Unfortunately, on Friday a great blasphemy will take place in Tel Aviv. We cannot do anything to stop it, but God will salvage us."
"Read a chapter of Psalms and we will be saved from the shame and disgrace," he asked his students.
Holon's Deputy Mayor Yoel Yeshurun, who serves as the dean of the Ashkelon Academic College, published a homophobic post on his Facebook page against the Gay Pride Parade and the LGBT community last week.
Yashurun lashed out at Tel Aviv's Mayor Ron Huldai, calling him "a wiry old man," whose Judaism is questionable, and claimed the media portrays "those crazy people" as the "standard-bearers (of liberalism)," although they are people of "darkness and barbarity coming from hell."
Yeshurun removed his offensive post on Sunday after withstanding harsh social media criticism.
"Tel Aviv has nurtured wild weeds, monsters resembling to those in the Jurassic Park movie whose small distorted minds orchestrated parades of two-legged vile repulsive animals," Yeshurun wrote.
"At the top of the tower stands a wiry old man, a gourmet-lover whose Judaism is questionable. He celebrates by eating dog meat, causing the Jewish people to hurl on his plate," he said.
"And the dog-eater's city? There, on Tel Aviv's streets those two-legged animals walk proudly, deeply disturbed, those who lay with men as well as ugly female animals with 'I'm a slut' tattoos!!!" he hatefully added.
Yeshurun accused the media of supporting the LGBT community and portraying them as freedom, liberty, and equality fighters.
"Hasn't the media understood yet it is representing only fragments of the population and most of the nation is revolted by these animal parades?" he charged.
When commenting on his malicious post, Yeshurun said, "I wrote this post on my private Facebook post, and I'm not taking back what I wrote."
"My words weren't aimed, not even by a hint, at the LGBT community, rather at the parades and their extraversion," he explained.
"The LGBT community itself criticizes those parades and the damage they do to its own struggle (for equality)," Holon's deputy mayor added.
Holon Mayor Moti Sasson said the post published on Facebook "is the deputy mayor's personal opinion, which of course doesn't reflect Holon and its mayor's perception and policy.
"We can only regret the things that were said," Sasson concluded.
The Ashkelon Academic College also issued a statement saying, "Yoel Yeshurun wrote his post on his private Facebook page. As a citizen in a democratic country, Mr. Yeshurun Is allowed to express his views and we don't see the need to intervene in the matter."
Holon City Council Member Israel Moran said Yeshurun's post was revolting and disgusting. "He said harsh, vile, and unacceptable things."
Two weeks ago, in anticipation of the Gay Pride Parade in Tel Aviv, a teacher employed in the secular Rafael Eitan high school in Ramat Gan asked his students to read the book of Psalms for "God to save us from the shame and the disgrace."
The teacher wrote in the Students' WhatsApp group: "Unfortunately, on Friday a great blasphemy will take place in Tel Aviv. We cannot do anything to stop it, but God will salvage us."
"Read a chapter of Psalms and we will be saved from the shame and disgrace," he asked his students.
18 june 2018
Drawing on 30 interviews with asylum seekers who 'voluntarily' left Israel, rights group claims Eritrean and Sudanese refugees were given false information, abandoned once in Uganda by Israeli authorities and were often forced into giving their consent to leaving the country.
Amnesty International accused Israel of "cruel and illegal" transfers of Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers in a report [PDF] released Monday.
In the absence of a clear plan for the deportation, the government uses "voluntary" departures to a "third country" to reduce the number of African refugees in Israel.
Amnesty International's report is based on interviews with 30 asylum seekers from Eritrea and Sudan who "voluntarily" left Israel for Uganda over the past year, which indicate the agreement they signed with the Israeli government was misleading and the promises and guarantees they received were empty.
According to the report, instead of receiving a residence permit upon their arrival in Uganda, the asylum seekers received an irregular migration status with no possibility of work and the risk of detention or forcible return to their country of origin.
While they were promised by Israel to receive 30-day visas to enter Uganda, some of the asylum seekers interviewed by Amnesty International received no such document. Instead, their papers were taken from them and they were left with no visa or other document to show legal entry to the country.
In addition, a letter issued by the Israeli government promises that "a local team will be waiting for you at the airport to accompany you in the first few days. The team will take you to a hotel arranged for you in advance, where you will have an orientation and introduction meeting with the local representatives, during which they will inform you of your options and help you in your first steps in the country."
Instead, according to the report, the asylum seekers received an "intimidation talk," as Ibrahim, a Sudanese asylum-seeker deported to Uganda in 2017, told Amnesty International.
"They told us that Uganda is dangerous because people know that we arrive here with money and they will try and steal from us. They told us that they wanted to help us because we didn’t have documents, and without an ID card we wouldn’t even be able to get a SIM card for our phone," Ibrahim recalled.
"They also told us that we would not be able to get (asylum) papers here because we came from Israel. They acted like they wanted to help us and told us not to worry."
Some asylum seekers reported that the "representatives" they met with offered to arrange to smuggle them out of Uganda upon payment, or otherwise promised documents that would allow them to stay in Uganda, but took the money and disappeared.
According to the report, representatives of the Israeli Administration Population, Immigration and Border Authority were in constant contact and were cooperating with the local "representatives" in Uganda who took money from the asylum seekers promising to smuggle them out of the country or provide them with visas, but disappeared without fulfilling any of the promises they made.
The Israeli government told the Supreme Court in April 2018 that it had a post-transfer monitoring mechanism in place to ensure the implementation of the agreement with Uganda, including follow-up conversations with the deportees via phone calls and emails during the first 30 days after their arrival, to verify that they had received papers, had a place to stay and all other matters were in order.
The government also reported that the Population, Immigration and Border Authority had contacted 95 percent of the deportees who left Israel in 2017, none of whom had reported "unusual events."
Despite that, only two of the asylum seekers interviewed for the report had been in contact with Israeli officials after arriving in Uganda and appeared to have received no help at all.
"A few hours after we arrived at the hotel, 'Michael,' an Eritrean man, came to the room. He said he worked with Israeli immigration and took our pictures with his phone to send them to Israel as proof that we had arrived. Then he called 'Shishai,' an immigration officer in Israel, from his phone and let me speak to him. ‘Shishai’ just wanted to make sure that we had reached Kampala. I never spoke to him again," said one refugee.
Another received a call from an Israeli immigration official. "I told him it’s very bad: I have no job and no papers," he said. He too received no help.
Moreover, the report claims that asylum seekers’ departure from Israel to Uganda were not voluntary, even in the instances in which they formally agreed to leave the country.
According to the report, an agreement by a migrant to leave the country was often forthcoming due to a combination of coercive or manipulative factors, among them a dysfunctional absorption apparatus, indefinite arrests or the threat thereof, violent declarations, discrimination by government officials, vague information, and the provision of false and misleading promises about the fate that awaits them after their departure.
Among other things, the report provides two pieces of testimony from inside Saharonim Prison where asylum seekers were held, which point to the prevalence of mental abuse which was deliberately employed to break the asylum seekers’ will until they “leave at will.”
Chen Baril Agari from Amnesty International Israel said that “the report highlights that under the dysfunctional asylum seeker apparatus, together with legislation that was intended to make the asylum seekers’ lives more difficult and false promises that were given to them—this is expulsion and not a willful departure.”
A spokesman for the organization, Gil Noah, also lamented Israel’s secret deals with other countries to absorb the refugees, even though those countries were significantly worse off economically.
“The report sheds light on the way in which secret agreements between states made it possible for Israel to turn its back on responsibility for the joint global refugee crisis,” Noah said.
“It is inconceivable that Israel should refuse to provide refuge to a tiny number of refugees in its territory and instead to pass the responsibility to a country that is dozens of times poorer than it is and which has already taken into its territory millions of refugees.
Amnesty International accused Israel of "cruel and illegal" transfers of Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers in a report [PDF] released Monday.
In the absence of a clear plan for the deportation, the government uses "voluntary" departures to a "third country" to reduce the number of African refugees in Israel.
Amnesty International's report is based on interviews with 30 asylum seekers from Eritrea and Sudan who "voluntarily" left Israel for Uganda over the past year, which indicate the agreement they signed with the Israeli government was misleading and the promises and guarantees they received were empty.
According to the report, instead of receiving a residence permit upon their arrival in Uganda, the asylum seekers received an irregular migration status with no possibility of work and the risk of detention or forcible return to their country of origin.
While they were promised by Israel to receive 30-day visas to enter Uganda, some of the asylum seekers interviewed by Amnesty International received no such document. Instead, their papers were taken from them and they were left with no visa or other document to show legal entry to the country.
In addition, a letter issued by the Israeli government promises that "a local team will be waiting for you at the airport to accompany you in the first few days. The team will take you to a hotel arranged for you in advance, where you will have an orientation and introduction meeting with the local representatives, during which they will inform you of your options and help you in your first steps in the country."
Instead, according to the report, the asylum seekers received an "intimidation talk," as Ibrahim, a Sudanese asylum-seeker deported to Uganda in 2017, told Amnesty International.
"They told us that Uganda is dangerous because people know that we arrive here with money and they will try and steal from us. They told us that they wanted to help us because we didn’t have documents, and without an ID card we wouldn’t even be able to get a SIM card for our phone," Ibrahim recalled.
"They also told us that we would not be able to get (asylum) papers here because we came from Israel. They acted like they wanted to help us and told us not to worry."
Some asylum seekers reported that the "representatives" they met with offered to arrange to smuggle them out of Uganda upon payment, or otherwise promised documents that would allow them to stay in Uganda, but took the money and disappeared.
According to the report, representatives of the Israeli Administration Population, Immigration and Border Authority were in constant contact and were cooperating with the local "representatives" in Uganda who took money from the asylum seekers promising to smuggle them out of the country or provide them with visas, but disappeared without fulfilling any of the promises they made.
The Israeli government told the Supreme Court in April 2018 that it had a post-transfer monitoring mechanism in place to ensure the implementation of the agreement with Uganda, including follow-up conversations with the deportees via phone calls and emails during the first 30 days after their arrival, to verify that they had received papers, had a place to stay and all other matters were in order.
The government also reported that the Population, Immigration and Border Authority had contacted 95 percent of the deportees who left Israel in 2017, none of whom had reported "unusual events."
Despite that, only two of the asylum seekers interviewed for the report had been in contact with Israeli officials after arriving in Uganda and appeared to have received no help at all.
"A few hours after we arrived at the hotel, 'Michael,' an Eritrean man, came to the room. He said he worked with Israeli immigration and took our pictures with his phone to send them to Israel as proof that we had arrived. Then he called 'Shishai,' an immigration officer in Israel, from his phone and let me speak to him. ‘Shishai’ just wanted to make sure that we had reached Kampala. I never spoke to him again," said one refugee.
Another received a call from an Israeli immigration official. "I told him it’s very bad: I have no job and no papers," he said. He too received no help.
Moreover, the report claims that asylum seekers’ departure from Israel to Uganda were not voluntary, even in the instances in which they formally agreed to leave the country.
According to the report, an agreement by a migrant to leave the country was often forthcoming due to a combination of coercive or manipulative factors, among them a dysfunctional absorption apparatus, indefinite arrests or the threat thereof, violent declarations, discrimination by government officials, vague information, and the provision of false and misleading promises about the fate that awaits them after their departure.
Among other things, the report provides two pieces of testimony from inside Saharonim Prison where asylum seekers were held, which point to the prevalence of mental abuse which was deliberately employed to break the asylum seekers’ will until they “leave at will.”
Chen Baril Agari from Amnesty International Israel said that “the report highlights that under the dysfunctional asylum seeker apparatus, together with legislation that was intended to make the asylum seekers’ lives more difficult and false promises that were given to them—this is expulsion and not a willful departure.”
A spokesman for the organization, Gil Noah, also lamented Israel’s secret deals with other countries to absorb the refugees, even though those countries were significantly worse off economically.
“The report sheds light on the way in which secret agreements between states made it possible for Israel to turn its back on responsibility for the joint global refugee crisis,” Noah said.
“It is inconceivable that Israel should refuse to provide refuge to a tiny number of refugees in its territory and instead to pass the responsibility to a country that is dozens of times poorer than it is and which has already taken into its territory millions of refugees.
