Refugees and rape in Sinai: A coherent Israeli response

The story of the African refugees coming into Israel begins with the genocidal wars being waged by the Omar Bashir government in the Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan regions of Sudan, and the political persecution of an increasingly authoritarian regime in Eretria. It continues in the Sinai Desert, where Sudanese and Eritrean refugees face torture, rape, organ theft and extortion by Bedouin traffickers before being smuggled into Israel. The story ends in South Tel Aviv, where many of the refugees have settled, and residents of neighborhoods such as Shapira and Hatikva are bearing the consequences of the world’s failure to prevent genocide and famine in Sudan, a failed government in Eritrea, and Egyptian anarchy in the Sinai.

Sinai, now a haven for lawlessness and terror, has quickly become a living hell for African asylum-seekers, where approximately 1,500 migrants per year are spending anywhere between two and seven months in captivity. Physicians for Human Rights reports that out of a group of 800 refugees that were treated in their clinic, 78% reported that they had been tortured by smugglers.

Repeated accounts tell of institutionalized torture camps where as many as 200-300 people are held at a time in compounds or metal containers, deprived of food and water, and beaten, burned, whipped, and electrocuted while being hung from their hands or feet. Women are often repeatedly sexually assaulted. One young African who survived the trek through Sudan told us how he was kidnapped in the Sinai a year ago and freed for a sum of $3,500. Now the price can reach $35,000. The highly organized brutal smuggling network of people, weapons and large sums of money reportedly has links with Hamas and other groups in both Gaza and the West Bank.

The new Egyptian government appears to be making an effort to restore law and order in the region. But it remains to be seen whether it has the ability and the will to complete the task; or more ominously, whether the current campaign is a cover for remilitarizing Sinai and continued support for Hamas’s terror — disguised as a campaign to restore stability.

What is the overall context of the refugee situation? Genocide, war, draught, famine and disease, all made worse by anarchy and corruption, have produced one of the great tidal waves of migration from south to north. Until the recent deportations, some 60,000 African refugees have been illegally living in Israel with up to 60 to 70 refugees entering Israel every day. There are reported to be some 250,000 other foreign workers, half of whom are estimated to be living in Israel illegally. Together they are 8% of our work force, compared to 6% in other OECD countries.

So far Israel has expelled some 20,000 migrants. By comparison, 120,000 Palestinians have received Israeli citizenship under family reunification arrangements. These numbers invalidate Eli Yishai’s disgustingly racist remarks about African refugees being a greater threat to Israel than Iran.

Still, the alarming growth in the smuggling of weapons, drugs, and money for terror-related activities, which comes with the increasing flow of persons entering Israel illegally, does pose a significant security threat. To protect its borders, Israel is acting to stem the flow of immigrants by sealing its porous border with Egypt’s Sinai. But so long as the world does not take action to bring Omar Bashir to trial and bring about an end to his corrupt, destructive regime in Sudan, and Eritrea continues to decay, the flow of asylum seekers from that region will continue

Combat Genocide Association (CGA), an Israeli movement guided by Zionist, Jewish and universal values, has made some practical recommendations concerning refuge policy. This organization has shown real leadership in stating the case for a law defining refugee status, regulations and quotas for granting political asylum, and humane procedures for the treatment of asylum-seekers

CGA has declared that Israeli refugee policy be guided by its responsibilities as a sovereign state to protect its borders, and at the same time, its obligations to offer refuge to those seeking asylum from genocide and persecution. CGA has prepared a “Bill of Treatment and Responsibility for Asylum Seekers and Refugees.” The bill specifies annual quotas, refugee rights and obligations, based on population size. Thus, GDP suggests an annual ceiling quota of 1,750 refugees annually, and a cumulative total of no more than 20,000, which would make Israel a leader among the nations in refugee absorption. Despite the bill’s endorsement by many MKs, it is right now going nowhere in the Knesset.

CGA proposes that those fleeing political persecution or genocidal threats should be eligible for refugee status, in keeping with the core values of the State of Israel while asserting Israel’s rights and obligations under international law. The bill refers to the Biblical precept that “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Leviticus, Chapter 19, Verses 33-34). The bill condemns racist incitement and hate language against immigrants and refugees. Public statements of incitement against asylum-seekers, such as Yishai’s, are not only troubling but are early warning signs for individual and group violence — the muggings, beatings and vandalism that have already caused enormous damage to Israel’s name.

But according to experts on refugees, 90% of the problem is in Sinai. We need to be asking why the UN, the EU, the United states, and the Egyptians are not intervening to stop the ruthless torture and extortion of refugees, and the much larger and lucrative arms trade funding the terrorist activity of Hamas and other organizations

We call upon the Israeli Government to take action to pass and implement CGA’s proposals

And we call upon those countries on which Egypt is dependent for foreign aid to use this lever to stop the disgraceful persecution of refugees inside Sinai.

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Tamar Pileggi and Dr. Elihu D Richter are co-founders of the Jerusalem Center for Genocide Prevention.