Holocaust survivors call on Netanyahu not to expel African migrants in Israel

30, Jan 2018 | CJP Team

Holocaust survivors in Israel have called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to force out 38,000 African migrants, AFP reported. “We, who know precisely what it’s like to be refugees… cannot comprehend how a Jewish government can expel refugees and asylum seekers to a journey of suffering, torment and death,” 36 survivors wrote in a letter published in Israeli publication Haaretz on January 26, the day prior to Holocaust Remembrance Day. Earlier in January, Netanyahu had told these migrants, largely from Eritrea and Sudan, that they must leave or face imprisonment. Netanyahu said at a recent cabinet meeting that “Israel will continue to offer asylum for genuine refugees and will remove illegal migrants from its midst.” A 2016 United Nations commission of inquiry found “widespread and systematic” crimes against humanity in Eritrea, and noted that approximately 5,000 people escape every month. Omar al-Bashir, the president of Sudan, has been indicted for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide by the International Criminal Court.