New York volunteer with the Save Darfur Coalition, wearing t-shirts advertising to “Save Darfur,” 2006. (Photo: Dave McLaughlin)
The shortcomings of a state founded with only the rights and self-determination of one people in mind have never been clearer, and the silence of its international supporters to recent injustices has never been more alarming. The American Jewish community is generally liberal, politically engaged, and concerned with international human rights. This does not come as a surprise given the history of oppression that many of our ancestors faced as minorities in other countries, and consequentially the strong emphasis on standing with the side of justice when genocides and other injustices arise today. However, as the recent anti-immigrant fiasco has shown: when those liberal politics that support human rights clash with the politics of Zionism and ethnocentrism in Israel, the American Jewish community turns a blind eye.
In 2006, the genocide in Darfur became an important issue among many American Jewish and Zionist organizations. A number of prominent Jewish organizations, together with other faith-based institutions, became members and advocates of the Save Darfur Coalition. The Save Darfur Coalition, undoubtedly the most effective organization in raising awareness and advocating intervention in Darfur, was founded after the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the American Jewish World Service held their first event regarding the crisis, featuring Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel as the speaker. According to a Jerusalem Post article published in April 2006, “Little known, however, is that the coalition… was actually begun exclusively as an initiative of the American Jewish community.” Since then, more than 130 other faith-based organizations have signed on.
Sadly, American Jewish organizations have remained silent in the face of rising xenophobic threats against African refugees in Israel, many of whom are from the very region the Jewish community was rallying in support of just a few years ago. A recent article published by Radio Netherlands Worldwide tells the story of a Darfurian refugee who, after fleeing the massacres in his homeland and being arrested three times by the Khartoum Government, thought he might find peace, security and acceptance in Israel. “I heard the refugees from Darfur were living in Egypt, and they came to Israel,” Guy Josif recalls. “And I thought: ‘OK, a holocaust happened, a genocide of the Jewish in Europe, and a genocide that happened now in Darfur. So I will go there, and at least I can share this story with Israelis.”
But they didn’t greet him with open arms (in contrast to their welcoming Ethiopian Jews, for whom Israel orchestrated massive airlift initiatives known as “Operation Moses”). Instead, the Israeli Government has met refugees and migrant workers with threats of expulsion. Those who Josif thought might listen to his plight have instead rallied their government officials to expel the “infiltrators”–as they are called. More than two hundred South Sudanese have been detained and set for expulsion this past week. 120 people have already been deported. Right-wing extremists in the country have taken matters into their own hands, complaining of a slow Government response to the rising immigrant ‘problem,’ and have thus attacked and firebombed the homes of immigrant families.
Despite the obvious injustices, Jewish Americans largely remain silent, standing by the side of their Israeli counterparts. Never mind that it is now Israel oppressing some of the very same people we rallied to help a few years ago. Unquestioned and uncritical loyalties to Zionism trump human rights among the mainstream Jewish community; our support for the downtrodden seems less important when it poses a challenge to Jewish sovereignty.
Palestinians learned that lesson a long time ago.
“Sadly, American Jewish organizations have remained silent in the face of rising xenophobic threats against African refugees in Israel, many of whom are from the very region the Jewish community was rallying in support of just a few years ago”
And what did you expect to see from a Torquay hotel window, madam?
There is no point in viewing “Save Darfur” as having ever been anything other than a massive propaganda effort on behalf of “worthy victims,” at best exploiting the desire of some privileged white people to help those who can be safely labeled as being victimized by an official enemy of the U.S./Israel. Thus the silence regarding the African refugees is consistent with the original motives, which were political rather than humanitarian. The same analysis can be applied to Nicholas Kristof.
Moreover, I suspect that Save Darfur delivered few if any resources to those suffering.
It’s simply false to say that American Jewish organizations haven’t spoken out.
The Tel Aviv riots were condemned by HIAS, the ADL, the AJC, the JCPA, and other orgs. http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/05/30/3096821/more-us-groups-condemn-ta-rioting
It’s also beyond ridiculous for any American to criticize a country that deports 200 people when America deports roughly 400,000 people a year. The organization I am most active in, the American Jewish Committee, is an ardent supporter of the DREAM Act, among other things, and most of the organized American Jewish community is on the liberal side of the spectrum when it comes to immigration policy.
We have exactly the same kind of right-wingers in this country using racist language to talk about illegal immigrants; it is a byproduct of what happens when, like here, a country does not establish any meaningful policy to address the issue of undocumented people. Most of the Republican Party cannot even bring themselves to support allowing undocumented kids who are high-school graduates or served in the Army and never committed a crime from getting work permits, let alone green cards.
Israel cannot actually deport Sudanese and Eritrean migrants, as opposed to the South Sudanese deported this week, because of the Refugee Convention, so it remains to be seen what will happen.
It’s also ridiculous to ignore the fact that this is an actual problem. As of April 2012, Israel has received roughly 60,000 migrants, mostly through the porous border with Egypt (and you can ask yourselves why they didn’t just stay in Egypt, but the Egyptian army policy of shooting at border crossers might give you an idea). This is a lot of undocumented people for a country of seven million, and it’s not going to go away.
I think most of these people will end up staying in Israel, just like most migrants from south of the border stay here, just like most migrants seem to stay in Europe. So let’s cut the crap. Every developed country is dealing with some variant of this problem of migrant workers from the developing world, complete with right-wing political leaders using racist language to talk about it.
“I’m not surprised you support the AJC, the same organization that after 9/11 sought to change, modify and manipulate American Moslem population figures in order to minimize their effectiveness. And it did so by conducting its own “poll” and then disseminating the false information to federal agencies and media outlets. ‘
How about a source for that? There’s plenty of controversy regarding the number of Muslims in the US, but the AJC actually has worked more with Muslim organizations then probably any American Jewish organization has, sending representatives to international conferences of Muslim young people, supporting the Park 51 project, and working behind the scenes with Muslim leaders for many years now.
“And this doesn’t begin to touch on the fascism that is inherent to the organization’s statements on Palestinians. ”
Oh please. Grow up.
“Showing our true colors, again.”
Yes, you are. As a person who will change the subject rather than take responsibility for blatant inaccuracies here.
Dan Sieradski is doing great work to address this issue. http://act.progressivejews.org/defend_israels_african_refugees