Sudan

A South Sudanese refugee child looks out from a bus in Tel Aviv that will take him to Ben Gurion Airport where they will be deported to South Sudan with 150 people on a flight leaving that night, Israel, July 11, 2012. (Oren Ziv/Activestills)

These Sudanese were deported by Israel. Now they’re saving others from war

Israel carries heavy responsibility for denying asylum to Sudanese who are being forced to flee their homes yet again. Initiatives like ours can help them.

By Rami Gudovitch May 31, 2023

Anya-Nya recruits in southern Sudan learning how to use Bren guns provided by Israel, 1970. (Photographer unknown, Archivo Comboniani Roma)

Not a new dawn: Why the Israel-Sudan deal was a long time coming

With U.S. backing, Israel has long bribed Khartoum into cooperating on regional policy. Normalization is the latest stage in that history.

By Yotam Gidron October 30, 2020

Palestinians protest against the agreement to establish diplomatic ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, September 15, 2020. (Flash90)

Normalization cannot silence Arab resistance forever

Israel will one day have to face Arab opposition to its alliances with dictators who care little for the people under their rule.

By Samah Salaime October 13, 2020

Latest

Protesters on a train coming from Atbra city about 300 km from Khartoum, during the Sudanese revolution, 17 August 2019. (Osama Elfaki/Wikimedia)

What is behind Israel’s warming ties to Sudan?

Israeli-Sudanese relations have been fraught with public tensions and secret collaborations — with the fate of refugees in Israel hanging in the balance.

By Inbal Ben Yehuda March 1, 2020

Sudanese asylum seekers embrace in south Tel Aviv's Levinksy Park following the announcement that Omar al-Bashir will step down after 30 years in power, April 11, 2019. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

PODCAST: Witnessing regime change in Sudan as a refugee in exile

The Sudanese refugee community in Israel watched ecstatically as long-time dictator Omar al-Bashir was deposed. But there’s a catch. Listen to the latest episode of The +972 Podcast. Listen here: iTunes/Apple Podcasts | Google Play | Spotify “The uprising in Sudan did not start a couple of months ago, it started years ago,” says Mutasim Ali, one of the leaders…

By +972 Magazine May 7, 2019

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

Najana Kombi, the refugee neighborhood where many Eritrean asylum seekers who came from Israel live. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Pushed out by Israel, asylum seekers find only limbo in Uganda

+972 Magazine joins Meretz MKs Mossi Raz and Michal Rozin in Rwanda and Uganda to find out what happens to the asylum seekers Israel is deporting there. After meeting humanitarian organizations, parliamentarians, and refugees, one thing becomes clear: Most are forced to continue their quest for safety and security elsewhere.

By Oren Ziv February 27, 2018

African migrants gather during a protest outside the Supreme Court in Jerusalem on January 26, 2017. (Sebi Berens/Flash90)

Between determination and despair: Meet the refugees fighting deportation

The Israeli government has begun the first stages in its planned deportation of African asylum seekers. Refugee activists and advocates are preparing to fight it. The start of the new year marked the first stages of the Israeli government’s plan to deport the roughly 40,000 asylum seekers, most from Eritrea and Sudan, currently living in Israel. The government announced in…

By Joshua Leifer January 16, 2018

Eritrean asylum seekers protest in front of the European Union embassy in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv, calling for the EU to try the Eritrean leadership for crimes against humanity, on June 21, 2016. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

What will happen to Eritrean asylum seekers after Israel deports them?

The Israeli government must not withhold information from the public about the dangers faced by Eritrean asylum seekers it is planning to deport. By Sigal Avivi Emanuel, an Eritrean asylum seeker whom Israel deported to Uganda half a year ago, agreed to take the risk of being interviewed on camera for one reason: he wanted the Israeli…

By +972 Magazine January 20, 2017

Hassan Nahima (Photo by Yair Meyuhas)

It’s been 10 years since I applied for refugee status in Israel

It’s been exactly 10 years since I crossed the border into Israel. I’ve been imprisoned, I’ve become ill, I was forced to renew my visa 62 times, and now I’m back in a detention facility — Holot. Is seeking asylum a crime? By Hassan Rahima This Sunday marked 10 years since I applied for refugee…

By +972 Magazine December 8, 2015

Exclusive: Despite dangers, Israel sending asylum seekers to home countries

For the first time, new statistics reveal that nearly 4,600 Sudanese and 1,000 Eritreans were sent back to their countries of origin, possibly against international law. Israel’s Interior Ministry claims they are returning ‘voluntarily.’ A +972 Magazine exclusive. By Oren Ziv / Activestills.org Israel has been sending thousands of African asylum seekers back to their…

By Activestills August 18, 2015

Israelis and African Asylum seekers jailed in Holot preform during a theatre show outside the Holot detention center in the Negev desert, June 13, 2015. (photo: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

PHOTOS: Asylum seeker theater troupe re-imagines life in Israel

A theater troupe made up of both asylum seekers and Israelis puts on their debut performance — and lets the audience choose the ending. Text and photos by Oren Ziv / Activestills.org Nearly 1,000 asylum seekers and Israelis arrived at Holot detention center on Saturday to watch the premier of a play put on by the…

By Activestills June 14, 2015

South Sudanese Soldiers. (Steve Evans/CC BY-SA 2.0)

The untold story of Israeli military exports to South Sudan

Since South Sudan’s independence, Israel has continuously sold it weapons, military training, homeland security and surveillance technology. The only problem? They are being used to commit war crimes and potential crimes against humanity By: Adv. Itai Mack and Idan Landau (translation: Einat Adar) We now know that Israel sold weapons to Rwanda in the 1990s as genocide was…

By +972 Magazine May 28, 2015