Refugees in South Tel Aviv

Refugees are a world wide problem. This week's discussion that Rabbi Mizrahi organised focused on Israel's refugee problem. Ann Beaglehole outlined the international convention on refugees, who is a refugee, a displaced person, an economic refugee, and all the other terms used for people who for one reason or another had to get away from their homeland. There are some 50,000 refugees in South Tel Aviv. Most of them are from Africa, predominantly from Eritrea, Sudan and Somalia. Many of them had been there for some years. There are no more arriving because Israel put in place a border fence and came to an agreement with Egypt whereby Egyptians shoot refugees on sight. Now Israel is negotiating with Rwanda and Uganda to take the refugees already in Israel. Why someone who fled one of the war turn countries in Africa would want to give up a relatively peaceful life in Israel to move to yet another unstable country in Africa is a question Israeli politicians do not address. All over the world, refugees are useful punching bags for politicians who face difficult problems that they want to divert attention from. Don't worry about public corruption, concern yourself about the problems of getting rid of 50,000 benighted, impoverished, harassed Africans in Tel Aviv. Israel of course has a vast wealth of experience in settling refugees. These refugees make up the fibre of Israeli society. But these were refugees who were more or less Jewish, or claimed to be Jewish. They were not necessarily upright, moral citizens. Some were criminals and introduced international crime to a country that was largely proud of its ethical record. The Halacha is clear, the strangers among you have to be accepted and accorded rights. Ann suggested that the answer to the refugee problem is to convert them all, let them be Jewish refugees. Arguing that the treatment of refugees in israel is not worse than it is in many countries of Europe or the treatment of boat people by Australia is an argument hard to accept. Israel is a country of refugees and must do better than others.