Press Releases

Ameinu Calls on the Israeli Government and International Community to Urgently Grant Asylum to Sudan Refugees

CONTACT: Gidon D. Remba
(212) 366-1194

New York, NY--Ameinu, the leading progressive Zionist organization in the United States, views with great concern the ongoing crisis of Israel’s Sudanese refugees. Increasingly over the past three months, refugees from the Sudan, many of whom are escaping the genocide in Darfur, have been illegally crossing the Egypt-Israel border and seeking asylum in Israel. Currently, there are approximately 1,500 Sudanese refugees in Israel, thirty percent of whom are from the Darfur region.

This uncontrolled arrival of illegal migrants and refugees has caught the Israeli Government and state welfare services unprepared. As this influx has become more acute, various Israeli NGO's, welfare agencies, including the Jewish Agency, and private corporations have stepped in to lend assistance while the government has debated what to do.

Recently, the Government of Israel announced that it would be returning the Sudanese refugees to Egypt, from where they entered Israel. Ameinu urges the Israeli government not to implement this policy. “The experience of the Sudanese refugees in Egypt has been overwhelmingly negative. In Egypt they were often harassed and beaten. Some were even killed,” said Ameinu National President Kenneth Bob. “In light of this,” Mr. Bob continued, “returning the refugees to Egypt would be unconscionable.”

Israel, a country founded by refugees and Holocaust survivors, has a moral obligation to help those in need. Ameinu calls upon the Government of Israel to grant asylum status to those refugees already in its midst who are legitimately seeking asylum and safety from war and genocide. Further, Ameinu calls upon the international community to assist Israel by absorbing into other countries a proportional number of refugees from Darfur.

“Israel should not be left to deal with this humanitarian crisis on its own,” added Mr. Bob. “This problem is not of Israel’s making and Israel is not equipped to deal with what could turn into a flood of immigrants from Sudan and other countries in the Horn of Africa. The world community along with the appropriate aid agencies must do their share to solve the refugee crisis brought on by years of civil war and genocide in Sudan.”

About Ameinu

Ameinu, the leading progressive Zionist organization in the United States and the U.S. affiliate of the World Labor Zionist Movement, is dedicated to promoting a negotiated peace between Israel, the Palestinians and the Arab states, and to social and economic justice for all in Israel and America. Together with the Labor movement of Israel and other partners, Ameinu reinforces Jewish continuity through support for Habonim Dror, the Labor Zionist youth movement, and the Union for Progressive Zionists national campus organization.

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