A parlor meeting entitled ‘Welcome the Sudanese’ will take place in the posh North Tel Aviv neighborhood of Neveh Avivim in the first week of August.
This is a continuation of the ‘Ramat Aviv First’ initiative by MK Dr. Michael Ben-Ari (National Union), which seeks to make liberal Israelis in upper class neighborhoods aware of what it is like to have African infiltrators living near their home.
The MK claims that liberal "do-gooders" protesting deportation of foreign workers or infiltrators do not have to deal with them in daily life, as do people in poorer areas where schools are overrun by non-Jews without a clue about Judaism and crime rates have jumped. At the parlor meeting, local residents will be invited and requested to share in the burden of Sudanese absorption and ‘adopt’ Sudani refugees.
“'A democratic society of equality and tolerance that embraces foreigners’ is not just a slogan. These are values to live your life by.” Posters carrying this message will be put up in the Ramat Aviv neighborhood prior to the parlor meeting.
The local residents of Ramat Aviv are called upon to act and not merely talk. The ads directed at the Ramat Aviv population pose a (possibly tongue-in-cheek) humanistic challenge: “Embrace the Sudanese in Ramat Aviv and hold them close. Be a role-model for the whole country, so that all Israelis will know that in Ramat Aviv you mean what you say. You are a liberal neighborhood that welcomes the foreigner.”
The residents are requested to ‘adopt’ one Sudanese infiltrator per family. Ben-Ari intends to personally phone and invite most of the locals to the meeting. His office says that this will be a test for the residents of Ramat Aviv, particularly for those of them who speak out for Sudanese rights.
Much of what is referred to as the Israeli secular ‘elite’ lives in North Tel Aviv. Ben-Ari is addressing this clique of liberal-minded politicians, doctors, lawyers, thespians and celebrities who have been quoted saying that the state must look after the thousands of African refugees who crossed the border with Egypt, and are seeking refuge in Tel Aviv and elsewhere. Ben-Ari wants them accommodated in nice areas and not in slums.
As part of this initiative, Ben-Ari recently purchased dozens of tickets to the ‘Gordon’ swimming pool at the Tel Aviv marina, a pool frequented by the aforementioned group, to be used by Sudan refugees. The tickets were honored by the pool administration, and the foreigners got a refreshing swim.