African refugees in Israel

Sudanese asylum seekers embrace in south Tel Aviv's Levinksy Park following the announcement that Omar al-Bashir will step down after 30 years in power, April 11, 2019. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

PODCAST: Witnessing regime change in Sudan as a refugee in exile

The Sudanese refugee community in Israel watched ecstatically as long-time dictator Omar al-Bashir was deposed. But there’s a catch. Listen to the latest episode of The +972 Podcast. Listen here: iTunes/Apple Podcasts | Google Play | Spotify “The uprising in Sudan did not start a couple of months ago, it started years ago,” says Mutasim Ali, one of the leaders…

By +972 Magazine May 7, 2019

The difference between Greece’s refugee pogroms and Israel’s

The difference is that Greek society has been driven to desperation, while Israeli society is living the good life. When I read a few days ago that refugees were being beaten by masked, club-wielding goons in Greece, I felt less distressed about what was going on in Israel. If it’s happening in the “cradle of democracy,” why shouldn’t it happen here? Hey, every country, even the most…

By Larry Derfner June 8, 2012

UN refugee official: Deportation of Africans unlikely

An optimistic proposal, inspired by an interview with the UN refugee agency’s man in Israel. Last Friday, a couple of days after the south Tel Aviv riot, I interviewed William Tall, representative in Israel of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and came away thinking that there is a way to settle the crisis decently, which I didn’t think there was before.…

By Larry Derfner May 28, 2012

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Last night in south Tel Aviv, the ‘time bomb’ went off

What’s going on between Israelis (including Israeli Arabs) and African refugees, and the prospects for more vigilante violence. Here’s my suggestion for preventing more vigilante riots like last night’s in South Tel Aviv’s Hatikva Quarter. One, put lots and lots of older, cooler-headed cops and soldiers on the southside, and in Eilat, Arad and every other place where there are large concentrations of African…

By Larry Derfner May 24, 2012

The tragedy and threat of African refugees in Israel

With at least 60,000 now in the country and 2,000 to 3,000 more coming every month, African refugees, for all the trauma they have been through, are unassimilable in this country. The first in a three-part series. On Friday, with the headlines screaming of Eritreans raping a 15-year-old Israeli girl, I went with a photographer friend to the Hatikva neighborhood in…

By Larry Derfner May 20, 2012