Agence France-Presse (AFP), June 13, 2012 Abraham Alu, a 35-year-old asylum seeker from South Sudan, hasn’t left his apartment in south Tel Aviv for five days. He has run out of money and food. But he is too scared of the immigration police to venture further than the courtyard. Alu used to sell plastic work …
The National, May 10, 2012 On Tuesday Israelis woke up to the surprising news that the early elections Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had announced on Sunday had been cancelled. In a deal made while the country was asleep, Netanyahu forged a new coalition with Kadima. Now the Knesset will march in lockstep behind the PM, …
Al Jazeera English, February 6, 2011 As Egyptians take to the streets to demand their freedom, I ask a Muslim in Yafo if we’ll see the same in Israel. “I don’t think so,” he answers. “Even with all the mess here, we have democracy.” Do we? And for how much longer? As we speak, the …
Al Jazeera English, January 29, 2011 Not long after religious nationalists held a rally in Bat Yam under the banner of “Jewish girls for the Jewish people,” a group of rabbis’ wives published a letter urging Jewish women not to date Arab men. Jewish-Palestinian couples remain uncommon here in Israel. But both the rally and …
Al Jazeera English, January 22, 2011 There was that jarring week in December—a protest against Arab-Jewish couples, a South Tel Aviv march and demonstration against migrant workers and African asylum seekers, the arrest of Jewish teenagers accused of beating Palestinians, and the expulsion of five Arab men from their home in South Tel Aviv. It …
The Guardian, December 8, 2010 Over 50 of Israel’s leading rabbis have issued a religious decree forbidding Jews from renting or selling homes or land to non-Jews—namely, Arabs, migrant workers, and African refugees. The letter was signed by rabbis across the country—many of who are employed by the state as municipal religious leaders—and urged Jews …