After walking thousands of miles from their home countries into Egypt, thousands of Africans make yet another new journey. Disenchanted with their treatment in Egypt, they risk mortal danger to cross the armed border into Israel, led by local Bedouins. They come from countries such as Sudan, Eritrea, Ivory Coast, Ghana and beyond. Some have troubling stories to tell.
The Jewish history is a cause of the sparked internal debate, over the state’s moral obligation to provide shelter for such refugees. The fact that some of the asylum-seekers are Muslim, adds another layer to the current test that the Jewish state faces. The temporary papers granted to new arrivals state clearly that they are not allowed to work. Consequently, the poorer parts of Tel Aviv and other towns have seen an influx of thousands of intermittently employed young men who are blamed for an alleged sharp rise in crime in these areas. The arrival of African migrants is pitting very different visions of the nature of the Jewish State against each other.