Most UNWanted: Black Refugees

I read the other day that Israel will no longer be accepting refugees from the Darfur region of the Sudan. Apparently, these people, having escaped their war-ravaged country, make their way north and cross into Israel at the Egyptian border to seek asylum there. As Israel was founded by refugees of the Nazi Holocaust, they obviously expected sympathetic treatment as victims of one of the dozen or so African Holocausts of the last twenty or so years. Not so. Israel, without explanation (really was one needed?), has anounced its policy to return all apprehended refugees to Darfur, despite any claims for asylum.

Israel has a unique place among the nations of the world. Surrounded as they are by other countries dead set on destroying them, maintaining their internal security must be a paramount issue. But the flip side of that is, they seem to feel that they are above any criticism. But as we have seen in the past couple of years, when the government's hard-line policies drove the Palestinians right into the arms of the terror-supporting Hammas, they are not infallible.

There may be other issues at work here that I am missing. The Israeli government's refusal to comment doesn't help. All I know is that the governments of the world all seem to harden their hearts when those seeking refuge happen to have black skin. For years, the United States government welcomed any Cuban immigrants who could get here by boat, raft, or driftwood. But those fleeing the crushing poverty and oppressive regimes of Haiti were sent back there without much sympathy for their pleas. Lesson to Haitians: get those relatives in South Florida to organize politically ASAP!

There is a lot of demonization in the US right now of those desperate enough to illegally enter a more prosperous country to improve the quality of their lives. I don't wonder if the same thing isn't taking place in Israel now. But for all the desperate international entreaties for more widespread involvement in helping the victims of Darfur, the policy seems to change when those victims show up your door. No surprise.