A Double Standard Against Israel
CAMERA
Recent press attention has focused on the repatriation of illegal African migrants from Israel. Reuters, the Associated Press, AFP, and UPI have disseminated stories. The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Financial Times, ABC, CNN, CBC, BBC and others have added their own reports.
None of this coverage has been complete. None has explained the context and difficult challenges facing Israel as a result of large-scale illegal immigration, particularly by non-Jews. Most of the media have depicted Israel as “rounding up,” “cracking down on,” “detaining,” “deporting,” “expelling,” and treating the migrants “like animals.”
But few media reports have been more offensive than a post on the blog of the reflexively anti-Israel British newspaper,
The Independent. In his article, “
Note to refugees from South Sudan: Israel is for the white man,” Richard Sudan mischaracterizes the comments of Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai, to cast him — and Israel — as racist.
A bit of research would have led Sudan to discover another little nugget of information contradicting his predetermined anti-Zionist thesis: Yishai himself was born to Tunisian parents. That is, the white racist antagonist in Sudan’s tale is actually Sephardi rather than “white”!
Sudan goes on to tar Israel as openly racist and fascist, saying:
The continual persecution of the Palestinians, politically and ideologically, the military court system, and now the emerging negative view of non-white people should outline clearly what the overriding Israeli government consensus is. The superior race theory is one that we’ve seen in the past, and is the hallmark of theories centered on a perspective viewed through the prism of eugenics. Those theories are dangerous and they need to be relegated to the past-along with Zionism.
Richard Sudan ignores that Israel, alone among the nations, went out of its way to take in as free citizens black Africans — Ethiopian Jews airlifted in the 1980s and ’90s. In his efforts to falsely cast Israel as a racist state, he inadvertently betrays his own bias and either ignorance or dishonesty. He argues that Eritreans, South Sudanese, Ivorians and especially Palestinians have the right to be in Israel yet, according to his reasoning, only the Jews do not.
Nearly all news media coverage of the issue of illegal African migrants in Israel has been devoid of context. Please see In Detail below for more information.
Whether overt, like Richard Sudan’s blog post, or more subtle, media coverage has framed Israel’s repatriation of illegal migrants incompletely, inaccurately and unfairly.
A
Washington Post blog on the subject was peppered with words like “deportation” and “expulsion,” using the more apt term “repatriation” only once. And Isabel Kershner couldn’t resist a Holocaust reference in her
New York Times article:
But the government clampdown is also ripping at Israel’s soul. For some, the connotations of roundups and the prospect of mass detentions cut too close to the bone.
“I feel I am in a movie in Germany, circa 1933 or 1936,” said Orly Feldheim, 46, a daughter of Holocaust survivors, as she doled out food last week to a long line of immigrants…
Does Feldheim mean to imply that those she’s assisting are in danger of being sent to Israeli death camps? By relaying this quote, does Kershner seek to conjure this idea? Inclusion of such misguided hyperbole distorts the news report. What is the real story?
International Law
There are an estimated 45,000-60,000 people currently living in Israel illegally, mostly from Eritrea and South Sudan. Some of them would be considered refugees by the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (
UNHCR):
The 1951 Refugee Convention establishing UNHCR spells out that a refugee is someone who “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.”
Many others would not be considered refugees, but instead migrants:
Migrants, especially economic migrants, choose to move in order to improve the future prospects of themselves and their families. Refugees have to move if they are to save their lives or preserve their freedom.
Only refugees have protected status under international law and the preferred outcome for them is to be repatriated. According to the
UNHCR Handbook for Repatriation and Reintegration Activities, “The UN General Assembly (GA) has repeatedly affirmed UNHCR’s function of promoting/facilitating the voluntary repatriation of refugees.”
In all of the above cases U.N. member countries, through the UNHCR,
funded in large part by the United States, pick up the tab. But in Israel’s case, the people of Israel are paying — adult migrants
reportedly received $1,300 each and children $650 each. In the non-Israeli cases, repatriated refugees received much less, only a few hundred dollars each.
However, the main thing that differentiates the repatriation of refugees from other countries from the repatriation of refugees from Israel is that there’s no outrage about it. Only Israel is singled out for widespread coverage, much of it tilted to the negative by repeated omissions.
The History
The relationship began with Menachem Begin’s note to the Mossad, “bring me the Ethiopian Jews,” and it was translated into action as Israel sent operators into enemy lands to help the Ethiopian Jews. In the middle of the night many Jews left their villages and, without maps but only faith to guide us, we walked through the hills and deserts of Ethiopia and Sudan to freedom. This helped unite us with the living Zion.
Never before had black Africans been taken from Africa, not from freedom to slavery but from slavery to freedom. No other nation has ever done that. Only Israel.
The media also ignores the history of the
Vietnamese “Boat People.” After the United States retreated from South Vietnam and North Vietnamese communists took over, hundreds of thousands fled to escape persecution and oppression. Many took to small, rickety boats, braving the weather and the threat of pirates. Countless thousands perished.
On June 10, 1977, an Israeli cargo ship en route to Japan crossed paths with a boat carrying 66 Vietnamese refugees. Their SOS signals had been ignored by passing East German, Norwegian, Japanese, and Panamanian boats. The Israeli captain and crew offered food and water and brought the passengers aboard. Neither Hong Kong, then ruled by Great Britain, nor Taiwan would accept the refugees so the Israeli ship transported them to Israel where Prime Minister Menachem Begin authorized their Israeli citizenship. Between 1977 and 1979, Israel welcomed over three hundred Vietnamese refugees.
@ Laura:
A fantastic post Laura, I agree with every word. Sadly, Canadian Otter is also right. So as TTW says, “As anti-antisemitism is on the rise through out the world, whatever Israel may or may not do is subject to harsh criticism. It is, therefore, advisable for Israel to take appropriate action in whatever she does, in the best interest of her people. ”
The situation and the solution summed up in three very good posts. I love this blog.
@ TTW:
i could not agree more
I agree but I’m also fed up with the worldwide demonization of the Jewish state.
There’s a reason these subversive bastards are called the enemedia. It seems their entire reason for being, is to persistently libel the Jewish state. Israel is held under a microscope. Falsely accusing Israel of racism is a way of covering for the accusers own Jew-hatred or justifying it. Jew-haters throughout history have engaged in blood libels and accused the Jews of what they themselves were guilty of.
Israel, just as we do, has the right to protect its borders from a massive influx of illegal migrants. If illegal aliens are a problem for America, I can imagine what a burden it is for tiny Israel. Israel cannot be responsible for taking on Africa’s problems and being responsible for thousands upon thousands of refugees. Let Europe take them if they are so concerned. But they don’t really care about them, it is yet just another excuse to verbally beat up on Israel. These are people who don’t believe Israel has any right to defend itself and its sovereignty in any way, shape or form. Israel is to accept being overwhelmed with millions of “palestinians” and Africans or else be accused of “racism”. As far as big media and the left are concerned, if Israel doesn’t voluntarily destroy itself, it is racist and fascist.
Fed up with Jewish victimization.
While all of the above is true, columns such as this one contribute to the feeling of victimization and helplessness among Jews, and DIVERT our indignation away from Israeli politicians who have ALLOWED this situation to fester all these years. Just as they have allowed the empowering of the PA and the increasing uncertainty about Jewish ownership of the land.
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Infiltrators – Arab, Africans and others – have been getting into Israel for years.
Africans are more easily identified as they loiter around playgrounds and attack Jews. So the population is becoming increasingly more vocal in their demands for their removal.
Politicians of all stripes have sidestepped the issue. And when really pressed to do something, they fake ignorance of international law and mention private talks with countries of origin, or monetary rewards for those who volunteer to go home, or some other negotiation as if it was illegal to deport someone who infiltrates the country.
A few dozens have left, but tens of thousands remain in Israel – and there are more coming every day, every week. The most politicians are willing to do is to incarcerate them for a while, only to be released later on humanitarian grounds.
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DON’T BLAME THE MEDIA FOR THIS.
The mainstream and alternative media are like scorpions and poisonous snakes. They act according to their nature. They do what they do, and we should not be shocked at how they treat Jews and Israel. They smear Jewish reputations for a living. No defamation against Jews and Israel means no audience, no money, and no status as “progressive”.
You don’t reason with them. Instead, you make Israel even stronger in response. And you sue them, whenever you can.
The problem is that Israeli authorities do the exact opposite. They make Israel weaker and apologize, no matter what.
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That’s why pro-Israel media does Israel no favor when it devotes energy and money to highlight the latest case of Israel’s victimization – without pointing out that the main force of delegitimization of Israel has been this and past governments, with their mishandling of the land recovered during the 1967 war and with their present mistreatment of settlers.
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Things were pretty good after the victory of 1967. Israel was respected and admired all over the world.
But everything has gone downhill since then, as politicians pile blunders on top of blunders.
Think of the surrender of Temple Mount, Hevron, and other important Jewish heritage sites to the Arabs – thereby ensuring constant friction between Jews and Arabs, and constant bad press.
Think of the surrender of Gaza, which has brought nothing but Arab terror and Israeli retaliation that becomes more fodder for the anti-Jewish media.
Think of the surrender of Sinai, the results of which we have seen nothing yet.
Think of the Marmara. While there is technology that allows authorities to disable ships at a distance, the IDF chose to send commandos armed with paint guns. Research journalist Lee Kaplan had met with government authorities and given them advance warning, including names of known terrorists on board the Marmara. To no avail.
Israel is still reaping the bad publicity of that incident.
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As you see, this cycle of Israeli blunders and wrongheaded policies brings on more media attacks, which the government uses to implement policies that weaken Israel even more – such as rules of engagement for police and IDF: whatever you do, don’t hurt the Arabs. And more expulsions of Jews from their homes.
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Only Israel’s strength can ensure its survival.
Don’t count on anyone’s shock and dismay at the media’s unfair treatment of Israel.
Use the power of the pro-Israel media and pro-Israel organizations to demand implementation of Israeli policies geared at strengthening the country instead of weakening it. Acting as an apologetic victim only incites more bullying.
As anti-antisemitism is on the rise through out the world, whatever Israel may or may not do is subject to harsh criticism. It is, therefore, advisable for Israel to take appropriate action in whatever she does in the best interest of her people.