Levinsky park migrants live in fear after Tel Aviv race riots (update on the anti-African attacks)

[stockholmer]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/29/levinsky-park-migrants-tel-aviv

Under the flowering jacaranda trees in Tel Aviv's Levinsky park, clusters of men lounge on the grass smoking cigarettes, making desultory conversation or dozing. A few perch on children's swings, some push battered bicycles. A whiff of stale urine hangs in the air.


Beneath the restless boredom, there is a new mood: wariness. Since an anti-migrant demonstration last week turned ugly and violent, these men – many of whom fled in fear from their homes in sub-Saharan Africa – are fearful once again. The display of naked racism in what is routinely described as a diverse and liberal city also shocked many Israelis.


Around 1,000 people marched through an area of south Tel Aviv in which migrants are concentrated, chanting "blacks out" and holding signs calling for expulsion. Shops serving the migrant community were smashed up and looted; dark-skinned men were threatened. A member of the Israeli parliament told the crowd: "The Sudanese are a cancer in our body."


The protest followed a spate of reports in the Israeli media of a "crime wave" – including alleged rapes, assaults and robberies – blamed on migrants. Just a few days earlier the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, had warned that a flood of "illegal infiltrators" was threatening Israel's identity. In recent weeks, Molotov cocktails have been thrown at apartments housing African migrants. One firebomb was hurled into the yard of a kindergarten.

---------------------------------------------------------

background:

Israeli anti-immigration riots hit African neighbourhood of Tel Aviv

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/9287715/Israeli-anti-immigration-riots-hit-African-neighbourhood-of-Tel-Aviv.html


The predominately black neighbourhood of Hatikva was ransacked by groups of nationalist protesters who had attended a demonstration on Wednesday night against illegal African migrants.

The protesters claim the Africans are responsible for a rise in crime, bearing signs saying "This is not Africa" and "Stop talking, start expelling". "Blacks out!" shouted demonstrators in the crowd, while others yelled "Send the Sudanese back to Sudan", as other protesters derided the "bleeding-heart leftists" working to help them.


The mob set cans of rubbish on fire, smashed the windows of shops owned by Eritrean migrants and beat up Africans walking through the streets. TJ, a 29-year-old migrant from Nigeria, watched the violent chaos from his rooftop having been chased and pelted with rocks when he attempted to leave his house. "There were protesters everywhere smashing shop and car windows," he said. "A group of about 10 or 15 boys stopped one black kid cycling on his bike. They pulled him off and were punching and kicking him in his head. The police just stood and watched until it got really out of control." Other witnesses described a gang assaulting a mother carrying a young baby so violently that she was forced to drop her child. Others stopped shuttle buses to search for migrant workers among their passengers.

The Israeli police confirmed they had arrested 17 suspects involved in "a protest against illegal African immigrants". Extra police units were positioned to prevent further violence in the area last night. Peace Now, an Israeli human rights organisation, is calling for an investigation into whether the speakers at Wednesday night's rally, including Knesset ministers Miri Regev, Danny Danon, Yari Levin and Michael Ben-Ari, are guilty of incitement.

snip

--------------------------------------------------------

http://www.flickr.com/photos/activestills/7258438094/in/photostream/



Night of attacks against African refugees, Tel Aviv, Israel, 23.05.2012


The mob setting garbage on fire and singing "The people wants the Africans to be burned" after a protest against African refugees and asylum seekers in Tel Aviv's Hatikva neighborhood on May 23, 2012.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How I survived a Tel Aviv mob attack

http://972mag.com/how-i-survived-a-tel-aviv-mob-attack/46587/

Last night I had to flee a raging mob not too far from my home in south Tel Aviv. After long speeches of incitement by right-wing parliamentarians, the masses stormed after me and a fellow journalist, and then turned on African asylum seekers, their businesses and their homes. This is how it happened.

It started out as a fairly quiet demonstration – or demonstrations, to be precise. One small demonstration took place in Shapira, my neighborhood, where several weeks ago an Israeli young man threw Molotov cocktails into asylum seekers’ homes. The dominant discourse here was, as is typical of the neighborhood, more moderate, and focused on blaming the government (and not the asylum seekers) for local hardships in south Tel Aviv.

On my way to the central right-wing demonstration in Hatikva neighborhood, a five minute bike ride to the east, I ran into several dozen demonstrators walking in the opposite direction. It turns out that these were J14 activists from all over the city, who wanted to make a point of the importance of finding solutions to benefit both veteran Israeli communities, struggling to make a living and fearing a rise in crime, and the masses of African asylum seekers who have no jobs and nowhere to go but these parts of the city. They felt unwelcome at the central demonstration and decided to split and form this march.

The central demonstration was organized mostly by Likud activists, which was somewhat strange to begin with, as the protest was officially aimed at the Likud led government. It started out quite peacefully, and a group of us journalists and photographers was standing on the side, somewhat bored and discussing plans for the weekend. On the stage, local residents told stories of attacks they experienced by African asylum seekers, while MKs from the Likud and parties further to the right were placing the blame for all the neighborhoods’ hardships on the asylum seekers and “the left.” The crowd was growing uneasy, but none of us thought that this would turn into anything big.

snip

Africans attacked in Tel Aviv protest; MKs: ‘infiltrators’ are cancer

http://972mag.com/africans-attacked-in-tel-aviv-protest-mks-infiltrators-are-cancer/46537/



Coalition MKs incited the crowd against the refugees and asylum seekers during a protest in south Tel Aviv, which was followed by attacks on African immigrants and confrontations with police. A Likud MK called for the prosecution of Israelis giving shelter to Africans.

More than 1,000 Israelis protested this evening (Wednesday) against the African refugees and asylum seekers who have settled in South Tel Aviv in recent years. According to eyewitnesses’ reports, the crowd grew angry and ultimately violent, following speeches from Knesset members, including members of the government coalition.

It was one of the most violent protests Tel Aviv has known in recent years. Confrontations were continuing between police and Jewish citizens at around 10:30 p.m. local time.

Dozens of protesters tried to move from the Hatikva neighborhood, where the rally was held, towards Tel Aviv’s Shapira neighborhood, where most African asylum seekers and migrants live. They were stopped by police. Protesters attacked a car passing by carrying African passengers, smashing its windows. Shops associated with the African community were vandalized.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

more links to the story

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/hundreds-demonstrate-in-south-tel-aviv-against-illegal-migrants-1.432228

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/24/tel-aviv-protest-violence-immigration?newsfeed=true

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/demonstrators-attack-african-migrants-in-south-tel-aviv-1.432262

http://www.france24.com/en/20120524-anger-fear-south-tel-aviv-after-race-riots

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/the-price-of-incitement-1.432551

------------------------------------------------------------------

Israel doesn't deserve unconditional loyalty

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/4040112.html

Last week, Israel's far-right foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman visited the UK. His visit was protested by progressive Zionists. Yet he responded with a remarkable declaration:

My expectation from all Jewish communities around the world is that they support any Israeli government. It doesn't matter if you have a left government or a right government

.

Jews are to support the Israeli government: any government. Doesn't matter what it does, what policies it pursues. Jews should support it.

Former national chairperson of the Australasian Union of Jewish Students and past chairperson of the Australian Zionist Youth Council, Liam Getreu, described this as a "dangerous brand of Zionism".

snip

-------------------------------------------------------------------

[Jazzgirl]

1. I never would've thought I'd read anything like this about Israel.

Oh.....wait.......

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. kick

[KG]

3. what a country.