The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
The Forum - On Line Opinion's article discussion area



Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Main Articles General

Sign In      Register

The Forum > Article Comments > Asylum Seekers, Refugees and 'the Loss of Israel' > Comments

Asylum Seekers, Refugees and 'the Loss of Israel' : Comments

By Neve Gordon and Nicola Perugini, published 29/1/2014

The state which denies the rights of people in search of both refuge (Africans) and return from refuge (Palestinians), is reproducing itself in the image of those nation-states which historically constituted themselves in a framework of ethnic pureness.

  1. Pages:
  2. Page 1
  3. All
Israel or any nation that's a sovereignty should be able to determine the demographic mix of their population. It's too easy to claim new arrivals are "refugees" and expect to have access to public resources, and residency. The problem of asylum seekers is a growing one, due to human overpopulation. The global population has ballooned from 2.5 billion to over 7 billion people since World War II, and this creates conflicts over limited natural resources.
Today, there are more than 45 million people in need of help and protection as a consequence of forced displacement, more than at any time since 1994. In the East and Horn of Africa there are 1.87 million refugees, mainly coming from Somalia, Sudan and Eritrea as a result of two decades of instability. Israel as a whole holds 600,000 displaced persons, and with such a densely populated area of immigrants living conditions in Tel Aviv, institutions have become grossly under-resourced.
Israel was formed because the Jewish people were displaced. The don't have the facilities to take in more. Israel should have the right to retain their Zionist and Jewish identity and give aid to Africa instead.
Posted by VivienneO, Thursday, 30 January 2014 7:34:26 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Dear Vivienne,

<<Israel should have the right to retain their Zionist and Jewish identity>>

Agreed, just as I should have the right to hit my toe with a hammer.

Given that we have plenty of archaeological evidence that the old-testament is not an authentic document but a fabrication by Jewish politicians, thus there is no religious incentive to keep the Jewish nation going, why would they still want to go through that pain?

Surely overpopulation is the core problem, so it at least makes sense when a group of people says "This life-boat is full, no one else on board", but that doesn't explain the eagerness of Israel to not only accept, but to actively bring in all the Jews from Ethiopia, including even the Falash Mura (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falash_Mura also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bnei_Menashe) who were Christians of Jewish origins. Wouldn't Israel also welcome 5.5 million American Jews had they landed today at Ben Gurion airport, though they have no housing solutions ready for them? That's not the kind of behaviour of people who feel squeezed for space and resources!

Or had the problem been of cultural and religious cohesion, then hadn't Israel accepted and made easy the conversion of the Falash Mura into Judaism? Or have they not integrated all the Ethiopian Jews who had very little culturally in common with Israeli society?

I am left with the conclusion that Israel's only true motive for refusing to accept those African refugees is national/racial.

National identity is a disease.
Posted by Yuyutsu, Thursday, 30 January 2014 12:08:12 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
  1. Pages:
  2. Page 1
  3. All

About Us :: Search :: Discuss :: Feedback :: Legals :: Privacy