Over recent decades, Israel has become a target destination for tens of thousands of migrants: asylum seekers1 fleeing wars, massacres, and oppressive regimes and migrant workers seeking to improve their standard of living. Israeli law permits the detention of any person who does not have status in Israel, provided that the detention is not for a punitive purpose, but serves as a tool intended to enable removal.
This report aims to be one of the first comprehensive reports that monitors the conditions of migrant detention centers in Israel. As the laws around detention have only grown stricter in recent years, it is not out of the realm of possibility that detention will continue to be a major tool in the Israeli government’s policy towards migrant-workers and asylum-seekers.
As we approach the critical climate talks in Paris later this year, there are some good reasons to feel hopeful and upbeat. From the tiniest nations of the Pacific to a giant like China, developing countries are demonstrating that reducing poverty and tackling climate change can, and indeed must, go hand in hand (from Oxfam Australia).
A new report on the Holot facility exposes; substantial asylum requests of detainees rejected by Israel now about to be jailed in Saharonim indefinitely, grave shortcomings in food, rights violations in the form of punishment
We belong to the West — that is how most Israelis see themselves and their country. In Israeli public discourse, the countries of reference on almost every topic are those of Western Europe and North America. On the face of it, this sentiment has its justifications: Israel has Nobel Prize laureates in chemistry, economics and literature. Israel has satellites circling Planet Earth. Israel has academic institutions that place high on international rankings. Israeli scientists and entrepreneurs register more international technological patents than their counterparts in most other countries. Israeli films win prizes in Europe and in the United States. Israelis feel at home when traveling to the countries of Western Europe and to the United States. Yet, on most social and economic indicators, Israel ranks closer to southern and eastern European countries than to the United States or the countries of Northern and Western Europe. Israel’s median disposable household income is similar to that of Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Greece and Spain. The same is true for the average wage of Israelis. Israel’s GDP per capita is similar to that of Spain and only a bit higher than that of Slovenia and the Czech Republic. Israel’s middle class is in retreat. Israel’s poverty rate is closer to the poverty rates of South America countries like Mexico and Chile than to those of most Western
countries
