south tel aviv

Eritrean asylum seekers who oppose the regime in Eritrea and pro-regime activists clash with Israeli police in south Tel Aviv, September 2, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

How Eritrean regime agents persecute asylum seekers in Israel

Israeli authorities have long turned a blind eye to the threat Eritreans face from their own government, leaving the community desperate to protect itself.

By Guli Dolev-Hashiloni September 5, 2023

Israelis and Palestinians protest in Jerusalem against the killing of Iyad Halak by Israeli Border Police as well as the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, May 30, 2020. (Oren Ziv)

‘Justice for Iyad, justice for George’: Hundreds protest police killing of Palestinian in Jerusalem

Israelis and Palestinians take to the streets to protest police violence, drawing parallels with the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

By Oren Ziv May 30, 2020

Tamarza, a single mother (31) and her children Lydia (10), Hazravi (6) and Nabad (4). Left: Zahab (30), single mother, and her daughter, Jerusalem (6). Both have been in the country for about 10 years. Tamarza worked in a food factory before the crisis and is not currently working. Zahab was unemployed before the crisis. (Oren Ziv)

Portrait of a crisis: Asylum seekers in south Tel Aviv facing coronavirus

The spread of COVID-19 has left asylum seekers in Israel out of work, crammed into uninhabitable apartments with exorbitant rents, and desperate for government assistance.

By Oren Ziv April 30, 2020

Latest

Sudanese asylum seekers celebrate the announcement that Omar al-Bashir will step down after 30 years in power, south Tel Aviv, April 11, 2019. (Edo Konrad)

‘We’ll build a new country’: Sudanese refugees celebrate Bashir’s downfall in Tel Aviv

Celebrations erupt on the streets of south Tel Aviv as Sudan’s dictator steps down after 30 bloody years in power. Despite what appears to be a military takeover, Sudanese asylum seekers in Israel believe their revolution will win out. By Edo Konrad and Oren Ziv Mutasim Ali didn’t have much time to talk when we met in his south Tel…

By Edo Konrad April 11, 2019

African asylum seekers are seen upon release from 'Saharonim' prison in the Negev desert, Southern Israel, April 15, 2018. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Safe from deportations, asylum seekers in Israel still living in fear

2018 began with the Israeli government attempting to deport 35,000 asylum seekers to countries where they would face persecution and possible death. The tireless work of activists stopped the government in its tracks — yet asylum seekers in Israel continue to face an uncertain future.

By Oren Ziv December 30, 2018

African asylum seekers protest the suspension of an agreement between Israel and the UN to resettle 16,000 asylum seekers rather than deport them to third countries, south Tel Aviv, April 3, 2018. (Activestills.org)

Netanyahu’s gift to anti-deportation activists

Netanyahu inadvertently told the entire country that there is a better alternative to his policies. Now that the alternative is within reach, the work of anti-deportation activists will become easier. The terrible thing about Netanyahu’s UN deal, and its subsequent cancellation on Tuesday, is that behind the political flip-flopping are people — thousands of families…

By Noam Sheizaf April 3, 2018

African asylum seekers and human rights activists protest against deportation of asylum seekers at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv on March 24, 2018. (Alster/Flash90)

At Tel Aviv rally, a Mizrahi-asylum seeker alliance is born

Tens of thousands crowded Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square on Saturday to show solidarity for asylum seekers facing deportation. ‘If we let the deportation happen, the Jewish people will have a stain on its history forever.’ It was an unusually hazy night in Tel Aviv. The lights from the stage caught the dust in long, yellow beams.…

By Joshua Leifer March 25, 2018

Asylum seekers and veteran residents of south Tel Aviv march through the city to demonstrate against the planned deportation of thousands of asylum seekers from Israel, March 9, 2018. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Hundreds of women march in south Tel Aviv against deportations

To mark International Women’s Day, asylum seekers and long-term residents of south Tel Aviv march together to oppose the deportation of refugees from Israel, and call for the rehabilitation south Tel Aviv’s neighborhoods. Over 700 women, both asylum seekers and long-term residents of south Tel Aviv, gathered Friday morning for a solidarity through the city’s southern neighborhoods,…

By Yali (Yael) Marom March 9, 2018

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with residents of South Tel Aviv, during a tour in the neighborhood, August 31, 2017. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

What do south Tel Aviv’s residents really think about asylum seekers?

The media tends to stereotype the Mizrahi residents of south Tel Aviv as angry xenophobes whose problems will be solved with the deportation of African asylum seekers from their neighborhoods. But the truth is far more complicated.

By Social TV February 8, 2018

African asylum seekers and human rights activists protest against deportation in front of the Rwandan Embassy, Herzeliya, January 22, 2018. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

Campaign for refugees a rare reminder of our collective morality

The campaign to stop the deportation of the asylum seekers is an encouraging reminder that Israeli society’s collective conscience has not yet totally disappeared. It is impossible not to gaze in astonishment at the Israeli public’s overwhelming mobilization for asylum seekers under threat of deportation. From educators to academics, from pilots who say they will refuse…

By Orly Noy January 29, 2018

Eritrean asylum seekers stage a mock slave auction outside the Knesset to protest Israel's plans to deport tens of thousands of Sudanese and Eritrean asylum seekers, January 17, 2018, Jerusalem. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Israeli teachers to education minister: ‘Stop deportation of asylum seekers’

Over 140 teachers sign an open letter calling to stop the deportation of asylum seekers. Meanwhile, former education ministers and Israel Prize winners warn against an ‘injustice that contradicts Jewish values.’ Over 140 teachers signed an open letter calling on the government to change its decision to deport the asylum seekers to Rwanda and Uganda. Another 190 leaders…

By Yali (Yael) Marom January 29, 2018

+972 Writer Mya Guarnieri Jaradat’s book short-listed for the Wingate Prize

Guarnieri Jaradat’s book, The Unchosen, is deeply reported look into the lives of asylum seekers and migrant workers in Israel. +972 Magazine congratulates writer Mya Guarnieri Jaradat on her book, The Unchosen: The Lives of Israel’s New Others, being short-listed for the 2018 Jewish Quarterly Wingate Prize. The Unchosen was short-listed alongside The Dark Circle…

By +972 Magazine January 12, 2018

Asylum seekers before the deportation of South Sudanese refugees in 2012. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Asylum seekers in Israel are scared. I am scared for them

For years, Israel’s right-wing government has fomented hatred against African asylum seekers. Now it plans to deport them, while the world turns a blind eye. By Leah Platkin As a social worker working with African asylum seekers in south Tel Aviv, I have seen my fair share of racism and hostility from Israeli politicians and local…

By +972 Magazine January 9, 2018