Israel secretly repatriated 1,000 to North Sudan, without informing UN

[Jefferson23]

Migrants sent to country hostile to anyone who was in Israel.

By Talila Nesher | Feb.26, 2013 | 4:31 AM


Israel has "voluntarily" returned at least 1,000 people to Sudan, an enemy country that has vowed to punish any of its citizens who ever set foot in Israel. The repatriation was done secretly, via a third country, over the last few months, without the knowledge of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Haaretz knows the name of the third country, but is withholding it to avoid harming those who returned via this route.

Though Israel claims the people's return was voluntary, this claim was rejected by UNHCR, which says there is no "freewill from inside a prison."

Under a recent amendment to Israel's infiltration law, asylum seekers can be jailed for years without trial. Testimony from within prisons indicates that detainees were also denied access to UNHCR, in violation of the UN convention on the status of refugees, which Israel has signed.

in full:http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-secretly-repatriated-1-000-to-north-sudan-without-informing-un.premium-1.505806

[holdencaufield]

1. Japan, China, Korea ...

... and many other countries repatriate persons claiming to be refugees on a daily basis -- no detention, no investigation, they are held in a cell until the next flight going back to the country they last left (regardless of their nationality).

They are treated as illegal immigrants and the UNHCR is not informed.

[Jefferson23]

2. Huh?

**In the past, the state has said in court that Israel doesn't deport Sudanese nationals, because "Sudan and Israel are enemy states, such that a Sudanese national who has set foot in Israel can't return to his country for fear of his life, or so he claims." This is in contrast to residents of South Sudan, with which Israel does have relations, and to which it began repatriating people after the country gained its independence from Sudan in 2011.

[Scootaloo]

3. I look forward to your threads in GD about those situations

[holdencaufield]

4. No need ...

... I support ANY country's right to determine their own immigration policies. Including a the Jewish homeland.

[Violet_Crumble]

9. So you support the right of a future RW US govt to deport 'illegal immigrants'? n/t

[holdencaufield]

10. Did you travel here from the future to kill the Terminator?

Or just to find out what the Internet was like before they banned porn?

[Violet_Crumble]

11. You said you supported any countries right to decide its own immigration laws. So I asked a question

Because you might have missed it, but whenever there's RW govts in place, they tend to want to bring in laws that are draconian and in many cases bigoted and racist. So, do you support the right of RW govts to bring in those laws?

[delrem]

12. Your so-called "Jewish homeland" was never empty of non-Jews.

Not 3k, 4k, 5k or more yrs ago, and not today.

I do NOT assent to any narrative that says that the lands of Israel/Palestine are the homeland exclusively of Jews. That narrative is FALSE.

I do NOT assent to any narrative that says that in a democracy one sect/nation/race/religion/etc. has the right of majority to force other sects/nations/races/religions/etc. to live under unequal laws. That is NOT what 'democracy' means. I do NOT agree with any narrative that suggests that any country, whatever country it is, has the innate right to force some populations into isolated demographic sectors so as to disempower them, or to expel some populations as demographic threats, or to plan a general map of contiguity between one demographic group while isolating others, etc.

I think that's sick.

[Jefferson23]

5. The state as smuggler

The secret deportation of Sudanese migrants who were sent back to Sudan via a third country over the past few months cannot be defined as anything other than state-perpetrated smuggling.

Haaretz Editorial | Feb.27, 2013 | 6:14 AM

The secret deportation of about 1,000 Sudanese migrants who were sent back to Sudan via a third country over the past few months cannot be defined as anything other than state-perpetrated smuggling. The attempt to wrap this atrocious act in a veil of legality by using a dubious form bearing the title "Voluntary Return" - which every deportee is required to sign under duress - and soliciting a third country to cooperate in the deportation is nothing less than "a crime never before committed," in the words of the local representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Sudanese nationals in Israel face a real threat to their lives upon returning to their homeland. The country's leader, Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide, has made it clear more than once that Sudanese who flee to Israel will be punished.

In Israel, the director general of the Prime Minister's Office, Harel Locker, has previously said migrants from Sudan and Eritrea can't be deported, because they face the death penalty upon their return. Rulings by former Supreme Court President Aharon Barak have cited the principle that people cannot be deported to a place where their lives or liberty will be in danger.

But all these facts and findings, like the international conventions that Israel has signed, make no impression on the Population, Immigration and Border Authority. The value of the human being and the sanctity of his life aren't recognized by either the authority or the minister in charge of it, Interior Minister Eli Yishai, when it comes to migrants. In their view, any trick is legitimate to cleanse Israel of the foreign migrants who are protected by international law. In this context, it's hard not to recall the countries that closed their borders to Jews trying to flee the Nazis and thereby caused their death.

But this evil cannot be laid solely at the doorstep of the Population, Immigration and Border Authority. The justice minister, Yaakov Neeman, hasn't made his voice heard. The Foreign Ministry, which ought to insist that international conventions be honored, declined even to comment on the issue on the grounds that deportations are the Interior Ministry's responsibility. As for the prime minister, it's as if he didn't exist.

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/the-state-as-smuggler.premium-1.506074#

[bemildred]

6. Did they give them free birth control first? nt

[Jefferson23]

8. Oh that little matter..tsk, tsk. They're right on it, a probe and all:

Israeli minister appointing team to probe Ethiopian birth control shot controversy

Committee, led by Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, to check evidence that Ethiopian women were given Depo-Provera shots to prevent pregnancy ? often against their will and without being informed of potential side effects.

By Talila Nesher | Feb.28, 2013 | 9:00 AM |

Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman is appointing a team to investigate the widespread administration of contraceptive shots to Ethiopian immigrant women, which came to light nearly three months ago.

The team will check the reports that the women were given Depo-Provera shots to prevent pregnancy – often against their will and without being informed of potential side effects – in what was an allegedly deliberate effort to reduce births in the Ethiopian immigrant community.

The contraceptive shots, which are administered every three months, are said to have contributed to the drop in the birthrate among Ethiopian women of close to 50 percent within a decade.

The committee is being set up at the instruction of Litzman, who had earlier denied that the phenomenon existed, after it was revealed by an Educational Television documentary by journalist Gal Gabai in early December. The committee is expected to include senior ministry officials and an independent physician to be chosen by Litzman.

There will also be a representative of the Ethiopian community on the panel, who will be chosen by Yesh Atid MK Penina Tamanu-Shata. The new MK recently met with Litzman and demanded that he “not abet a cover-up of the issue and have it quickly examined by an investigative committee.” The committee will try to determine who was involved in setting a policy, if any, of routinely injecting Ethiopian women with the contraceptive.

in full: http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israeli-minister-appointing-team-to-probe-ethiopian-birth-control-shot-controversy-1.506266

[oberliner]

7. "country that has vowed to punish any of its citizens who ever set foot in Israel'

That is pretty intense.

[Jefferson23]

13. Tel Aviv protesters: Expulsion of migrants to Sudan is a death sentence

Rally held in reaction to Israel's secret repatriation of 1,000 Sudanese asylum seekers.
By Talila Nesher | Mar.01, 2013 | 6:59 PM


Dozens of people gathered in Rothschild Boulevard on Thursday to protest the ‘voluntary’ expulsion of migrants back to North Sudan, an enemy country which has vowed to punish anyone who has set foot in Israel.

The expulsion of about 1,000 people, first exposed in Haaretz, was carried out under a shroud of secrecy. The authorities intend to repeat this with the repatriation of other migrants back to Eritrea.

The demonstrators, both human rights activists and African migrants, held signs that read “Expulsion = a death sentence”, “Life imprisonment or expulsion with lethal risks”, “The government of Israel is violating international law”, “Israel illegally making people disappear – we will not close our eyes and be silent”, and others.

Several North Sudanese migrants appeared at the demonstration and described the place they escaped from, as well as the way they were being treated in Israel. M., who escaped from Darfur, described the surreptitious actions of the state: “People are told that they are either going to jail or back to Sudan. One must understand that anyone returning from Israel will die there, and Israel knows this. I don’t understand why they are behaving this way, similar to the ways of the country we escaped from”.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/tel-aviv-protesters-expulsion-of-migrants-to-sudan-is-a-death-sentence.premium-1.506687