340 African Immigrants Stage Israel Jail Protest

Image by haaretz
More than 300 African migrants refused to return to their cells in an Israeli detention center this weekend, saying they are being held illegally and demanding release.
The 340 detainees – mostly from Sudan and Eritrea – barricaded themselves in the yard of the Saharonim detention center in the south of Israel this weekend. A special Israel Prison Service force, brought from outside the center, on Sunday morning returned them to their cells.
Most of the detainees were caught illegally crossing the Egyptian border into Israel. Prison service staff tried and failed to negotiate an agreement by which the detainees would return to their cells voluntarily. The detainees did not use violence.
The situation, which began when the detainees refused to return as normal to their cells, was resolved on Sunday when the prison service force entered the wing of the prison where the detainees were protesting, separated them from one another and took them back to their cells.
“The entry to the wing and the removal of the migrants from it has been completed,” the prison service said afterward. “The migrants demonstrated passive resistance only.”
For more, go to Haaretz
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
- 2
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
- 3
Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
- 4
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Trump fires Doug Emhoff from Holocaust Memorial Council
-
Fast Forward Facing police investigation, Irish band Kneecap denies supporting Hamas, Hezbollah
-
Fast Forward Red paint coats Dartmouth building in pro-Palestinian protest
-
Opinion The secret cost of Israel’s wars ravaged my family. It’s only getting worse
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.