Israel feeds illegal African infiltrators
Israel feeds illegal African infiltratorsIsrael news photo: Flash 90

Activists for granting asylum to tens of thousands of African infiltrators are trying to compare their status with that of Jews who sailed to Israel under the British Mandate.

The comparison of Africans, some of whom have fled Darfur but most of whom simply are looking for a better life, to Jews who sailed on illegal immigrant ships from post-Nazi Europe follows the activists’ “human rights” march last Friday on behalf of the Africans.

A new group that calls itself “All of Us Are Refugees” is distributing stickers proclaiming, “Asking for asylum – and put in jail” and "Call your grandmothers infiltrators.”

Backed by several well-known musicians, the new campaign will cap off a week of activities this Friday with an appeal for contributions for their cause.  Other efforts are being made on behalf of Bedouin and other non-Jews in order to threaten the Jewish majority that is increasingly being dominated by a growing numbers of religious Jews.

“The government’s attitude that ‘refugees’ are infiltrators is racist and demagogic and is aimed at inciting” against the Africans, according to All of Us Are Refugees director Shira Fen. She argues that the illegal Africans “are simply asking for asylum, and many of us [in Israel] have grandparents who came to Israel in the same way” during the period of the Mandate. ”Today, they would be called refugees,” she said.

The campaigns of pro-African, pro-Arab and pro-Bedouin groups often play on the emotions of Israelis, backed by mainstream media publishing photos of little African children. The campaigns sometimes raise the concept of the Holocaust and try to compare Israel’s attitudes towards illegal Bedouin homes and illegal African infiltrators with actins of the Nazi regime during the Holocaust.

Illustrating the method was Fen’s comment, “Three generations ago we were infiltrators, and have we already forgotten the lesson?”