Israeli Celebs Support Sudanese Asylum Seekers
It’s celebrities versus politicians in Israel.
If the latest petition to be signed in Israel ever went up for auction, it would sell for millions of shekels, because it bears the names of some of the most famous Israelis alive: writers Amos Oz, David Grossman and A.B. Yehoshua, singer Yehudit Ravitz and actors Hanna Maron and Moshe Ivgy.
The cause: Now that South Sudan is independent, Israel’s government takes the view that there’s no reason not to send South Sudanese asylum seekers who are in Israel back home. It plans to do so soon.
The celebrities mentioned above and around 400 others have written: “We appeal to the State … to avoid deporting 700 immigrants from South Sudan, an act that would expose them to a raging war, hunger and disease,” the petitioners wrote. They claimed that the planned repatriation sits uncomfortably with the fact that many Israelis were once refugees.
The predicament of asylum seekers in Israel is a heart-wrenching one, but one that is normally overlooked by the average Israeli, given that the country has such a fast-moving news agenda full of issues that have a more immediate impact of their everyday life. But if some of the best-known household names become spokespeople for the issue, as they are, this could change quickly.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news. All donations are still being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000 until April 24.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
