African immigration to Israel is the international movement to Israel from Africa of people who are not natives or do not possess Israeli citizenship in order to settle or reside there. This phenomenon began in the second half of the 2000s, when a large number of people from Africa entered Israel, mainly through the then-lightly fenced border between Israel and Egypt in the Sinai Peninsula. According to the data of the Israeli Interior Ministry, 26,635 people arrived illegally in this way by July 2010, and over 55,000 by January 2012. In an attempt to curb the influx, Israel constructed the Egypt–Israel barrier.Butcher, Tim. Sharon presses for fence across Sinai, The Daily Telegraph, 7 December 2005. Since its completion in December 2013, the barrier has almost completely stopped the immigration of Africans into Israel across the Sinai border.Israel Completes 245 Mile, NIS 1.6 Billion Security Fence Along Sinai Border with Egypt Algemeiner, 4 December 2013 2:58 PM
The African refugee population in Israel is composed primarily of Sudanese and Eritrean refugees migrating to Israel through the Sinai Desert. Israeli policy concerning these refugees has evolved from a policy of neutrality to a policy of deterrence. These refugees began arriving in Israel in the 21st century, led by Bedouin smugglers. As of 2018, the non-Jewish African refugee population in Israel is approximately 36,000.
Israeli citizens living in neighborhoods with large refugee populations have mixed attitudes towards them. Some have claimed refugees are "rapists" and "criminals", while others living in the same neighborhood described them as "peaceful" and "kind." With tensions rising and shifting Israeli policy, both deterrence and support for the refugees has increased. Israeli policy toward African refugees have been heavily influenced by the advocacy and legal work of several nonprofits, including the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants, Kav LaOved, Association for Civil Rights in Israel, and others.
As of January 2018, according to the Population and Immigration Authority (PIBA) there were 37,288 African migrants in Israel, not including children born to migrants in Israel. Most African migrants are regarded to be legitimate asylum seekers by human rights organizations, but the Israeli government says most of them are job seeking work-migrants.African migrants reel as Israeli law cuts into their salaries
Many of the migrants seek asylum status under the United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. Citizens of Eritrea and Sudan cannot be forcibly deported from Israel. Under international law, Eritrean citizens (who, since 2009, form the majority of the undocumented workers in Israel) cannot be deported due to the opinion of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that Eritrea has a difficult internal situation and a forced recruitment and therefore the Eritrean immigrants are defined as a "temporary humanitarian protection group". Israeli authorities have stated that they could not deport Sudanese directly back to Sudan because Israel has no diplomatic ties to Sudan. Accordingly, the Israeli authorities grant temporary residence through "conditional release permits" which must be renewed every one to four months, depending on the discretion of the individual immigration official. Various authorities in Israel estimate that 80–90% of the undocumented workers live primarily in two centers: more than 60% in Tel Aviv and more than 20% Eilat, with a few in Ashdod, Jerusalem and Arad. Most non-Jewish African refugees have been granted "conditional release" visas, which are not valid work permits in Israel. Lack of a valid work permit severely limits their economic opportunities. There was a case of a riot targeting African refugees in Tel Aviv, although the Israeli government has arrested and subsequently punished the perpetrators.
Legal status According to the government, the majority of the migrants are seeking economic opportunity. This is not the case among Israel's allies such as the United States, where the vast majority of Eritrean and Sudanese applicants are accepted as refugees. Once in Israel, African migrants have sought refugee status for fleeing forced, open-ended conscription in Eritrea or ethnic cleansing in the Darfur region of Sudan, but the government of Israel maintains that these areas merely have a poor human rights record, which does not automatically entitle one to asylum. To qualify, applicants must establish that they face the risk of personal harm or persecution if they return to their country. The Interior Ministry has failed to review the vast majority of asylum requests.
Most migrants request refugee status after arriving in Israel, in accordance with the United Nations's Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. Israel does not review the status of the individual immigrants originating from Eritrea or Sudan, who constitute about 83% of the total people coming to Israel across the Egyptian border, and instead automatically grants them a "temporary protection group" status. This status allows these people to have temporary residence right within Israel, which must be renewed every 3 months; usually this also means that they would be eligible for a work permit in Israel. In the past Israel also granted an automatic "temporary protection group" status to all citizens of the Ivory Coast and South Sudan, although since then the validity of this status has expired. Regarding the other asylum requests filed by citizens of other countries and examined individually, the Interior Ministry stated that only a fraction of them were actually eligible for refugee status.
History The Israeli government originally tolerated the new arrivals from Africa. It allowed their entry and many migrants found menial jobs in hotels and restaurants. But after their numbers swelled, concerns were raised. In the second half of the 2000s, there was a significant increase in the number of undocumented workers who immigrated from Africa to Israel by crossing the Egyptian border. In 2006 about 1,000 undocumented workers were detained; in 2007 about 5,000 were detained; in 2008 about 8,700 were detained; and in 2009 about 5,000 were detained. In the first half of 2010 the migration rate even further increased in the first seven months when over 8,000 undocumented workers were caught. The total number of undocumented workers is clearly greater than these figures, because many were not apprehended. The early wave of undocumented workers came mainly from Sudan, while in 2009 the majority of the immigrants were from Eritrea.
In early May 2010, it was estimated that 24,339 undocumented workers resided in Israel, of whom the number of Sudanese and Eritrean refugees who are not deportable under international law was 18,959: 5,649 Sudanese and 13,310 Eritreans. 16,766 of them received a special visa (ס 2א 5) granted to illegal immigrants who are non-deportable asylum seekers. Officially, the visa allows them only to stay in the country, but in practice the state also allows the refugees to work and avoids imposing fines on the Israeli employers who employ them. This special visa requires renewal every three months. The Israeli immigration police patrols the neighborhoods of south Tel Aviv regularly and arrests asylum seekers who do not carry a valid visa; the punishment can be one to three months in prison.
141 immigrants, mostly from Ethiopia, received refugee status.
According to the IDF's Operations Division in 2008, most of the countries from where the illegal immigrants came are (in descending order): Eritrea, Sudan, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast and Nigeria. Most of the illegal immigrants (85%) were men.
Most migrants initially arrive in Egypt, and then pay sums of up to twenty thousand dollars for Bedouin smugglers to transfer them to the border between Egypt and Israel. There have been cases of abuse against male and female migrants committed by the Bedouin smugglers, including rape, kidnapping for ransom, trafficking, and murder. Both male and female migrants have also reported many cases of sexual and physical assault, rape, and the forced removal of bodily organs (kidneys, for example). Another danger for the migrants includes the Egyptian army policy shooting at them in order to prevent crossing the Egypt/Israel border.
To contain the illegal entry of persons, construction of the Egypt–Israel barrier commenced in 2012 and was completed in 2015. 9,570 citizens of various African countries entered Israel illegally in the first half of 2012, while only 34 did the same in the first six months of 2013, after construction of the main section of the barrier was completed.New Data Shows 99% Drop in Illegal Entry, Arutz Sheva. 2 July 201399.6% Drop in the Number of Infiltrators Entering Israel Due to Government Action , Israeli Prime Minister official website. 1 July 2013Israel to trade arms for migrants with African countries, Ynetnews.com. 9 July 2013 After the entire fence was completed, the number of migrant crossings had dropped to 16 in 2016.ISRAEL COMPLETES HEIGHTENED EGYPT BORDER FENCE
Timeline 2000–2006 Prior to 2000, the Israeli government had not created any specific policies for handling incoming refugees. The determination of refugee status was outsourced to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Until 2006, there were no challenges to this system due to the low number of refugees. Later, a new law was established in which the UNHCR would process asylum applications and send a recommendation to the Israeli National Status Granting Body, which was tasked with deciding refugee status.
Approved refugees received temporary residency and temporary work permits in Israel. However, the Israeli government granted only 170 permits of this kind between 2002-2005. Moreover, individuals identified as "citizens of enemy states" were not allowed to seek asylum. This was the status of all Sudanese refugees in Israel since both countries have no diplomatic relations.
The rapid increase in the number of Eritrean and Sudanese immigrants beginning in 2006 changed the Israeli policy towards refugees from these two countries. From then on, the Israeli government began to work towards creating an environment that would be undesirable to refugees. However, in 2007, the Israeli government was still issuing three-month renewable "conditional release" visas, which allowed Eritrean and Sudanese refugees to work. Beginning 2010, all visas upon renewal were issued with a stamp indicating that "this visa is not a working permit."
This policy ensured that refugees were protected from deportation to their countries of origin, but they could not legally work in Israel. Due to the precarious legal work status of refugees, they are often discriminated against for job opportunities and have to rely on infrequent jobs to make ends meet.
2006–2008 Prior to 2006 and throughout 2007, Israeli policy was to detain all refugees from "enemy states" for months at a time. This policy was later discontinued. In addition, there existed a policy to return refugees to the Sinai desert if they had crossed the border into Israel, but this policy was also ended later by the decision of the Israeli Supreme Court.
2009–2014 In 2009, the Israeli government formed a Refugee Status Determination (RSD) Unit that works closely with the United Nations. The Israeli Immigration and Border Authority processes all asylum requests and authorizes temporary group protection. Most of the Sudanese and Eritrean refugees fell into the latter category, a categorization that significantly delays registration as refugees.