I'm thinking: Israel's newest arrivals

By Micah D. Halpern   

Issue of August 7, 2009 / 17 Av 5769

For centuries people have risked their lives leaving their countries of birth to come to Israel. They leave behind family, property and belongings, bringing with them only their dream - to settle in the land of Israel.

Every day, another group of 500 to 600 people enters Israel following their dreams. The difference between these people and the thousands who have come before them is that these groups are not welcomed by the Jewish Agency or Nefesh b’Nefesh. They enter Israel by crossing over the Egyptian border and sneaking into Israel illegally.

They are Muslims and they come from Sudan and Eritrea.

The logic is difficult to follow but the disconnect from reality is clear. In the Muslim world children are fed a diet of hatred for Israel: hatred for Israelis, hatred for Zionists, along with their mother’s milk. As they grow older the children are introduced to vile, ugly, anti-Israel propaganda. As they grow still older they are encouraged to engage in anti-Israel activities. And yet, here they are by the thousands, Muslims unwilling to end their treacherous voyage until they have set foot over the Egyptian border and entered the Jewish homeland.

At home and in the other Muslim Arab countries they pass through, the former citizens of Sudan and Eritrea are in danger. Because none of them can ever return home, they are legally classified as refugees. At home, they are being murdered by their ruling governments. In Israel, they are being asked not to live in the central part of the country.

Very few countries in the world have taken in the refugees of Darfur. Israel has. Few countries took in the boat people of Vietnam. Israel did. In the 1970’s thousands of boat people were floating aimlessly, citizens of nowhere, no place offering to take them in, no one willing to save them. Israel, the Jewish State, was one of the only countries to open doors to the boat people, escapees from a far off culture.

Israel accepts refugees, even illegal refugees, because that is part of the Israeli mission. Israel accepts those who have no home because, throughout history and in countries throughout the world, Jews have been sent out from their communities. Certainly, along with these illegal arrivals come legal and bureaucratic entanglements. Israel was set up to receive Jewish refugees from around the world, not intended to be a magnet for Muslims fleeing Muslim oppression. But the Jewish state is sensitive to the concept of people fleeing from persecution and that explains why Israel has a tradition of taking in people in need.

Today’s refugees from Sudan and Eritrea have figured it out. They have figured out that Israel is not the enemy. They have figured out that Israel is the savior.

Micah D. Halpern is a columnist and a social and political commentator. Read his latest book THUGS. He maintains The Micah Report at www.micahhalpern.com.