Israel refuses citizenship for Israeli man's husband

Maayan Zafrir, an Israeli citizen, and his husband Felipe Javier Episcopo

Source: Dos manzanas via Google translate

Israel has refused to grant citizenship to a Uruguayan citizen married since 2008 with an Israeli. The couple, who have two young children, may be forced to appeal to the country's Supreme Court, which in 2006 accepted the request of five gay couples married to Israeli nationals abroad who asked to see their marriage recognized and forced the administration to register their marriages. What happened once again highlighted the complexity and paradoxical nature of the rules in matrimonial matters in Israel.

Felipe Javier Episcopo and Maayan Zafrir met online in 1999 and have lived together in Israel since 2001, where they are legally recognized as a couple, according to Israeli law. Episcopo legally immigrated to Israel where he was initially granted a visa and work permit in 2005 and obtained a temporary residence permit. In 2008 the couple married in Canada. Initially, there were no problems, the authorities accepted the marriage and updated the status of both. However, when Episcopo applied for citizenship (continued temporary residence permit), the Ministry of Interior refused to fully recognize the marriage, citing as the reason the existence of a regulation that defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman and rejected the request.

The couple is thus confronted with the paradox that the state recognizes marriage only in part. Zafrir denounced the attitude of the Ministry of Interior, stating that what most concerns him are his children (two years old twins) because, as things stand, if he died Felipe could no longer care for them. The couple spoke to New Family, an advocacy group fighting for LGBT rights. The group's founder, Irit Rosenblum, has denounced what he considers "a clear case of discrimination." "It is difficult to understand why the state has to act as discriminatory and humiliating, since the couple are already recognized," he said, noting that they are willing to go to the Supreme Court.

Last September we reported here in dosmanzanas the Israeli Interior Ministry decision to grant Israeli citizenship to Bayardo Alvarez, the non-Jewish spouse of a gay marriage. It was a historic decision, the first time that the 'law of return' was applied to a gay marriage. However, a ministry spokesman stressed that the decision would not necessarily be similar in other cases.

The law on marriage in Israel
 
What happened once again highlighted the need for reform of marriage laws in Israel. This is a situation that does not, of course, apply only to same-sex couples. In December, for example, the Ministry of Interior  refused entry to the country to the Nigerian husband of an Israeli woman, calling him 'just a sperm donor'.

In Israel there is only religious marriage, and most of the population used to join the rabbinate as Jewish orthodoxy (religious marriages may also be held Christians or Muslims). If a heterosexual couple wants to marry Israeli in a non-religious ceremony they must do so abroad, and then apply for registration in Israel. Many, in fact, of those who choose to cross the border to celebrate a secular marriage do it in Cyprus. According to polls, two thirds of the Israeli population supports the adoption of a civil marriage law. However, last year the Knesset (Israeli parliament) again rejected a proposal to that effect.

Related articles

• Israel's Citizenship Laws: Are They Archaic? (nycnyc.wordpress.com)
• Israel passes 'harsh' immigration law (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

Israel passes 'harsh' immigration law

Photo by runran

By Paul Canning

A law which could lead to the indefinite detention of asylum seekers has been passed by the Israeli parliament.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voted for the bill, which his spokesman called part of a “multitiered strategy to deal with the challenge of illegal immigration to Israel.”

The bill has been sharply criticized by refugee advocates, and is seen as targeting some 50,000 Africans who have entered Israel illegally since 2005, according to Israeli government estimates.

And in a country built by refugees it has caused soul-searching with the conservative Jerusalem Post in a November 11 Editorial saying:

Now with a sovereign country of its own the Jewish people must not only serve as a moral example of how developed countries should deal with refugees and asylum-seekers, but also make sure that a strong Jewish majority is maintained in a sovereign Jewish state.

The law is the first one dealing with refugees - until now they have been managed under an emergency law from 1954.

The amended law will enable the Israeli authorities to hold in administrative detention for up to three years migrant workers and asylum seekers with their children. This is not unusual, although harsh. Australia, for example, also holds asylum seekers in detention for long periods although it is retreating from that policy because of the growing evidence that it produces serious mental harm. Contrary to that trend, the Israeli law's proponents argued that long detention periods would deter refugees.

Anyone who is fleeing from a so-called “enemy” country can be held indefinitely. This can mean those refugees and their children fleeing genocide from the Darfur region of Sudan or gays fleeing Iraq. The law stipulates that persons originating from such countries or areas are not to be bailed from detention under any conditions.

Any refugee or migrant committing the most minor infraction of Israeli law could be jailed from three years to life.

"This is extremely irregular, because in Israel today it is legally impossible to keep a person in custody for years without putting him on trial and proving his guilt in a legal procedure," Knesset legal advisor Eyal Yinon told the Constitution Committee last month.

The law will criminalize what it calls ‘irregular entry’ and makes no provision for those fleeing persecution.

It creates a summary removal procedure — within 72 hours — without giving the individual an adequate opportunity to challenge their deportation. There is no distinction made for how children will be treated.

The Justice Ministry had proposed that those aiding refugees could be criminally prosecuted - providing them with shelter could mean a prison sentence of between five and 15 years. That provision was amended at the last moment, so it no longer applies to organizations or people who provide humanitarian aid.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) has called the law:

“one of the most dangerous bills ever presented in the Knesset.”

Israeli activist Elizabeth Tsurkov wrote that:

The law is designed to target the weakest of the groups living in Israel – survivors of genocide, civil war, prolonged servitude, torture and rape – by using a law originally intended to combat armed saboteurs. Past attempts to pass this law (which was first drafted in 2006) were foiled due to a harsh public response. However, following years of systematic incitement against refugees by Israel government officials, the Israeli public now largely sees refugees as illegal migrants, undeserving of sympathy, and as a result, this inhumane law has now become reality.

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 training
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 recently withdrew its
 presence
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 in
 protest
 of
 Israeli
 treatment
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 asylum
 seekers.
 The 
US
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criticism
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Israeli 
treatment
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condemning 
a lack
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legal 
representation, 
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The Africans reaching Israel face appalling conditions on the way with NGO EveryOne Group reporting only yesterday about 44 more Eritreans kidnapped for ransom in the Northern Sinai, including six children. They also reported that another African released by traffickers had then been tortured and shot in the leg by Egyptian police.

There have also been multiple, grisly reports of migrants in Egypt being targeted for body parts.

Related articles

• Israel proposing indefinite detention of refugees (madikazemi.blogspot.com) 
• Video: The law that crosses the line (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

Video: The law that crosses the line

Video by STOP The Infiltration Prevention Law campaign - Hotline for Migrant Workers (Israel).

Israel proposing indefinite detention of refugees

Photo by runran

By Paul Canning

For nearly 2,000 years the Jewish people were guests, refugees or asylum-seekers in other peoples’ countries. Sometimes they benefited from their hosts’ good treatment, sometimes they were expelled, discriminated against and persecuted.

Now with a sovereign country of its own the Jewish people must not only serve as a moral example of how developed countries should deal with refugees and asylum-seekers, but also make sure that a strong Jewish majority is maintained in a sovereign Jewish state.

So said the Jerusalem Post in an 11 November Editorial.

Israel has for the past few years been experiencing an influx of refugees, most from Africa and many from the benighted country of Eritrea.

These refugees cross the Sinai desert and face appalling conditions with slavery reported in camps, hostage taking and potshots taken at them by Egypt's military. Many have died. A small group of very brave human rights defenders in North Sinai have been working to save hundreds of lives there.

Since the beginning of November about 950 Africans are known to have made their way into Israel, which is a lot for a country unused to non-Jewish refugees.

In June, a Population, Immigration, and Borders Authority (PIBA) representative told The Jerusalem Post there were now more than 35,000 African migrants in Israel, 80 percent of them Sudanese or Eritrean.

Israel has been working on building a fence. And now it is working on a law.

Although it is a signatory to the Refugee Convention, Israel does not have a refugee law. The current law up for amendment is an emergency law, the “Prevention of Infiltration Law”, originally passed in 1954 to cope with the infiltration of Arabs who the state claimed sought to sabotage Israeli security. Now new amendments are being proposed (a prior attempt was withdrawn in July 2010 after harsh public criticism).

Says Sigal Rozen, the Public Policy Coordinator of the Hotline for Migrant Workers:

While the previous bill cynically used a security claim to justify draconian measures against desperate people, the present amendment states clearly that its purpose is deterrence: “The expectation is that the detention period will stop the massive infiltration or at least minimize it,” I have heard countless politicians say.

The amended law will enable the Israeli authorities to hold in administrative detention for up to three years migrant workers and asylum seekers with their children. This is not unusual, although harsh. Australia, for example, also holds asylum seekers in detention for long periods.

However anyone who is fleeing from a so-called “enemy” country can be held indefinitely. This can mean those refugees and their children fleeing genocide from the Darfur region of Sudan or gays fleeing Iraq. The proposed bill stipulates that persons originating from such countries or areas are not to be bailed from detention under any conditions.

The law will criminalize what it calls 'iregular entry' and makes no provision for those fleeing persecution. The Refugee Convention prohibits the imposition of penalties for illegal entry or presence, where a person has fled a territory because of a risk to their life or freedom.

It creates a summary removal procedure - within 72 hours - without giving the individual an adequate opportunity to challenge their deportation. Those aiding refugees could be criminally prosecuted. There is no distinction made for how children will be treated.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) has called the proposed law:

"one of the most dangerous bills ever presented in the Knesset."

Israel has one of the worst records internationally for accepting asylum seekers. In the past sixty years it has only accepted 149. Israel also has the lowest percent of requests granted for temporary, not permanent status compared to western states, under 1%.

No Sudanese or Eritreans have ever been accepted as asylum seekers. Israel has begun removing Eritreans to Ethiopia, where they are not safe.

Israel also does not recognise the coverage of homosexuals under the Refugee Convention under membership of "a particular social group". Palestinian gays fleeing persecution and even death are routinely refused asylum and sent back across the border.

The
 Hebrew
 Immigrant
 Aid
 Society,
 a
 critical
 contributor
 to
 training
 and 
monitoring
 the 
Israeli i
mmigration
 system,
 recently withdrew its
 presence
 in
 Israel
 in
 protest
 of
 Israeli
 treatment
 of
 asylum
 seekers.
 The 
US
 Department
 of
 State
 has
 echoed 
criticism
 of 
Israeli 
treatment
 of 
asylum
 seekers, 
condemning 
a lack
 of 
legal 
representation, 
lack
 of
 interpretation,
 in
judicial hearings, 
and 
extended 
detention.

Speaking to a Knesset Committee in 2010 Oscar, a refugee from Congo, criticised the oft-cited idea that the refugees are actually migrant workers:

"Most of the refugees I know who live in south Tel Aviv are indeed refugees who escaped danger," he said. "We didn't choose to be refugees. There are many children of Holocaust survivors here (in the committee) who were in a similar state as ours, and therefore they should understand us."

Writes Jerusalem Post:

Israel, a country created in the wake of the Holocaust to be a national homeland for the Jewish people after nearly two millennia of exile among the nations of the world, has a unique moral responsibility toward refugees and asylum-seekers.

There are no easy answers. But we have an obligation to rise to the challenge.

Video by Physicians for Human Rights.

Read more »

Three LGBT cultural associations to visit Israel and Palestine

Bertrand Delanoë image via Wikipedia

Source: Yagg

By Christophe Martet

A unique experience and a world first. From November 6 to 13, the associations Beit Haverim (a gay and lesbian Jewish group in France), David and Jonathan (a Christian homosexual movement) and HM2F (homosexual Muslims in France) are organizing a trip to Israel and Palestine. Presented as a world first, according to organizers, the aim of the trip is to meet and dialogue with representatives of the three religions and to enter into a dialogue and express their solidarity with the local LGBT movements in Israel and Palestine.

A dialogue in spirituality

Fifty people will participate in this trip, which will lead participants from Jerusalem in Israel to Ramallah in the West Bank, as well as to Tel Aviv, the Dead Sea, Jaffa and Abu Gosh, an Arab village near Jerusalem. For Franck, of Beit Haverim, the objective is not political; it is a dialogue in spirituality with local LGBT organizations.

During the stay, visits to tourist spots will alternate with meetings with political figures and representatives of Israeli and Palestinian LGBT associations.

Lotfi, of HM2F, has described this initiative as the forefront of a questioning of dogma that lead to discrimination against LGBT people. For Elizabeth, of David and Jonathan, spirituality is an effective way to participate in this dialogue. But they are not religious organizations, and they do not have to be accountable to any religion, she says.

Bertrand Delanoë's sponsorship

This trip is sponsored by the Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë. During the press conference held Friday morning [Oct. 14], Pierre Schapira, the Mayor's official responsible for International Relations, European Affairs and the Francophonie [French equivalent of the British Commonwealth], highlighted the particular context of this trip like no other and welcomed it

"You innovate and all forms of dialogue are good to take," he said. 

He also estimated that Israeli society was fairly open about these questions. He said that his counterpart in the City of Jerusalem is openly gay.

The mayor of Paris' tenth arrondissement [district], Remi Feraud, who was also present on Friday, emphasized that the importance of this trip was that it showed the willingness of the associations to gather experience and to enter into a dialogue with two societies so as to lift taboos. He said that they will bring another view of this region, less caricatural and more optimistic.

Franck, of Beit Haverim, said the trip was fully self-financing. He said they did not seek any form of public or private subsidy in order to do the trip fully independently.


Translation by F. Young

Video: New film looks at plight of gay Palestinian refugees in Israel

Source: yarivmozer

A new upcoming film by director Yariv Mozer.

Early morning, the streets of south Tel Aviv are still empty. Louie, age 31, looks right, and left, and then again. He makes his way onto a side street, scanning the people around him. He then approaches a bus stop and waits calmly, always looking down, the scar across his cheek shimmering in the light, a Jewish Star dancing gently around his neck. Louie wonders: should he put his yarmulke on too? He boards the bus and sits down, glancing at the attractive man near him. A border policeman comes into view. Louie panics: should he make an exit?

In Israel’s liberal cultural capital, Louie found the freedom to express his homosexuality in a physical way that the social mores and laws of Palestinian society do not permit. And so this man has been hiding in Tel Aviv for so many years, so desperately alone; you need nothing more than to look into his tender eyes to see it. Louie always dodges other Palestinians or even Arab Israelis (gay ones too) who could inform his family in Nablus – or his relatives in Jaffa – of his whereabouts. Louie has no address, no passport, no true friends, no real lovers.

The film “The Invisible Men” will tell Louie’s story as he navigates his complicated reality between the Occupied Territories and Israel. On that journey, we will discover other gay Palestinian men in hiding, be they in Tel Aviv’s open-air prison, the West Bank’s gay underground, or yet worse, Gaza’s cage. We will render these “invisible men” undeniably visible.

• Clips and information

In Israel, citizenship granted to gay Jew's partner - after campaign

Alvarez and Goldberg

Source: Ha'aretz

By Raphael Ahren

The Interior Ministry recently granted citizenship to a non-Jewish gay man married to a Jew, for the first time applying the Law of Return to a spouse in same-sex marriage. It remains to be seen, however, whether the move represents a policy change in the ministry, which could help many more same-sex couples immigrate, or merely a one-time ruling.

The case of Bayardo Alvarez, who is not Jewish, and Joshua Goldberg, both U.S. citizens who married in Canada four years ago, made headlines earlier this year, after the couple threatened to sue the ministry for refusing Alvarez citizenship. According to the Law of Return, every Jew and his or her spouse have the right to immigrate to Israel as citizens, but until the ruling, this had only applied to heterosexual couples.

On August 10, nearly eight months after he applied for citizenship, Alvarez received confirmation that his request was granted.

"This is a very big victory for equal rights between gay couples and non-gay couples, in the sense that it has been made very clear that the Interior Ministry has to treat all couples equally, especially with regards to the Law of Return," said Nicole Center-Maor, a lawyer who directs the Reform Movement in Israel's legal aid center for new immigrants and took on Alvarez's case.

Center-Maor believes the ministry decision will prove a landmark, paving the way for future half-Jewish same-sex couples seeking Israeli citizenship.

Read more »

Israel refusing citizenship for gay Jew's partner

Alvarez and Goldberg

Source: Ha'aretz

The Israel Interior Ministry is refusing citizenship and new immigrant status to a homosexual married to a Jewish new immigrant, despite the law's stipulation that the child, grandchild and partner of a Jew are entitled to Jewish immigrant rights.

Joshua Goldberg and Bayardo Alvarez, both American citizens, immigrated to Israel two weeks ago. Goldberg, who is Jewish, received an Israeli identity card and immigrant certificate on arrival, under the Law of Return. Alvarez, despite exerting much pressure on the ministry, was granted only temporary residence.

The Law of Return stipulates:

"A Jew's rights and an immigrant's rights ... are also imparted to the child, grandchild and partner of a Jew, except in the case of a Jew who willingly converted to another religion."

Attorney Nicky Maor, director of the Legal Aid Center for Olim, says if the couple were a man and woman, there is no doubt they would both have received Israeli citizenship.

"The only reason the Interior Ministry doesn't know how to handle it is that they're gay," Maor said. "The Law of Return says 'partner,' not husband and wife. There is no definition preventing recognition of same-sex partners."

Goldberg and Alvarez, from Baltimore, Maryland, have been living together for 11 years. At the end of 2007, they were married in Canada, where same-sex marriages have been legalized, even for non-Canadians. They started immigration procedures about six months ago, with the help of the Israel Religious Action Committee.

In 2006, the High Court of Justice instructed the Interior Ministry to register same-sex marriages of couples who were married outside Israel in the Population Registry. In the wake of this ruling, the Interior Ministry registered Goldberg and Alvarez as married when they came to Israel. But despite the implications, the ministry refused to give Alvarez citizenship and an immigrant's certificate.

"We demanded an immigrant's status for Alvarez before Passover," says Maor. "Since then they've promised they are discussing it on all levels, and say they must discuss it with the State Prosecution department and formulate a stand."

The ministry knows that if it refuses, the issue will be brought to the High Court of Justice. "They want the prosecution's backing. They say this is holding things up," Maor says.

Goldberg, 40, a publicist and PR agent, and Alvarez, 33, a flower arranger for weddings and events, both work as waiters in an Eilat hotel and are looking for work and housing in the central region.

Alvarez was granted temporary residence after the couple had been summoned six times to the Interior Ministry branch in Eilat, where they say they were treated in a hostile, humiliating way by the clerk. Goldberg claims it was clear they were looking for excuses not to grant him residence.

"Now they're refusing to make a decision one way or another about his [Alvarez'] immigrant status," Goldberg says.

"The religious interior minister doesn't want to be accountable for giving immigrant status to a gay half-Jewish couple. It is much more convenient to say 'I didn't do it, the ultra-liberal High Court forced it on me.'"

"I wish they'd refuse our request or approve it," he adds, frustratedly. "It will end in the same way. If we petition against them, they will lose and grant us the temporary residence."

It's not all bad news, though. Goldberg says he's quite pleased with the Israelis he's met so far.

"The Israelis we've met until now have been so sympathetic, I'm all the more amazed by how malicious the Interior Ministry can be," he says.

Attorney Dan Yakir, of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, believes the High Court will grant Alvarez citizenship if asked to rule on the issue.

"It's a question the courts haven't dealt with yet," he says, "whether 'partner' in the Law of Return also applies to a same-sex partner. In view of the court rulings that have equalized the rights of same-sex couples and in view of the constitutional right for equality, it is obvious that the Law of Return must be interpreted as applying to same-sex couples, and that means an immigrant's partner must be given citizenship."

International Day Against Homophobia events announced

The Intentional Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) has announced more events to take place on or around May17.

Fighting so-called 'reparative' therapies, aiming at "curing" sexual and gender diversity, is emerging as a theme.

A coalition of groups from Latin America and the Caribbean has launched a campaign called "Cures that kill". First signatories include the Brazilian Federal Council of Psychology, Mariela Castro and the Mayor of Lima.

• Read the full appeal and sign the petition

In Peru a week long programme in Lima includes a national seminar on 'reparative' therapies.

In Italy, Catholics will hold a Vigil of Prayer for the victims of homophobia.

The Latin Americans are seeking support from the international community and the wider public.

The IDAHO Committee has an online "As I Am" campaign which aims to "celebrate our individualities and to honor the collective spirit that binds us all, connecting us to universal, inalienable and interconnected human rights that all people share". It has invited submissions of creative videos, artwork, or written statements "about respecting a person for ALL of who they are".

May 17, the 20 national editions of the free daily METRO, read by 17 million people, will be edited by Lady Gaga. There is a contest for Gaga assistants.

Turkish LGBT group KAOS GL will launch a regional network against homophobia, as part of the sixth international IDAHO conference in Ankara. They said:

"The Conference for Middle East and Balkan Countries’ Homosexuals was a dream when we declared our foundation 16 years ago and shaped our liberation perspective. Liberation and survival struggles of LGBT in our region has always been a constant consideration for Kaos GL, one of the first LGBT organisations in Turkey. The reflections of all ethnic, religious and cultural diversity seen in the Middle Eastern, Caucasus and Balkan countries exist in Turkey’s society. Kaos GL has strived for this diversity to represent and express itself in the LGBT movement since its foundation."

"Homophobia is institutionalised in civil society and the public area by blending racism and nationalism in the countries of this region, including Turkey. Institutionalised homophobia integrates into historical animosities between the countries of our region and increases existing alienation between peoples. It is the LGBT organisations and the regional network between these organisations that will have to resist homophobic and sexist reflections of racist and nationalist policies in our region."

Read more »

US State Dept human rights report picks up LGBT asylum issues in UK

Image via Wikipedia

By Paul Canning

The 35th annual human rights report of the US State Department has picked up on "significant disadvantages" experienced by LGBT asylum seekers in the UK.

In launching the report April 8 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton drew particular attention to the report’s identification of abuses against LGBT people internationally:

“Because I believe, and our government believes, that gay rights are human rights, we remain extremely concerned about state-sanctioned homophobia,” Clinton said.

She hoped that the reports which cover every country bar the US itself would "give comfort to the activists, will shine a spotlight on the abuses, and convince those in government that there are other and better ways.” They may also be used to bar aid to certain countries if the US Congress passes recently introduced legislation.

Mark Bromley, chair of the Council for Global Equality, told the Washington Blade that Clinton has made LGBT rights one of the State Department's top priorities. Expanded coverage of LGBT rights was begun last year but the 2010 reports show patchy coverage across Africa and the Middle East.

State Department interest in LGBT asylum

The UK report cited last year's Stonewall report 'No Going Back' and pulled out for mention its identification of the "fast tracking" of LGBT asylum claims, repeating Stonewall's finding that LGBT have complex cases and in "denying them quickly, UKBA staff did not give applicants time to talk openly about their sexual orientation."

Home Office Minister Damien Green told the House of Commons in February that the government did not accept that sexual orientation asylum claims are complex and therefore would not exclude them from 'fast track', as it does other types of cases.

Read more »

In Israel, asylum seekers building fence to keep out other asylum seekers

Source: Haaretz

The government is employing Eritrean asylum seekers to help build a border fence designed to keep out other migrants seeking to enter the country from Africa via the Sinai Peninsula.

A man who gave his name as August, one of four Eritreans working for a contractor along the fence route, said he had sought work for a long time before he was told a construction job was available near Eilat.   

He had arrived in Israel five months ago. According to August, the hardest part of the journey was trekking through the African desert. Now, once the border fence along the Egyptian frontier is completed, migrants will find it even more difficult to enter the country.

August laughed when asked if he felt guilty that he was helping put up a structure designed to keep fellow Eritreans out of the country. "I have a family that remained in Eritrea," he said. "While they would love to come here, they know the journey isn't easy." As August tells it, he simply has no choice but to earn a living any way he can.

While the state has legally barred its citizens from employing asylum seekers from Africa, it doesn't enforce the ban. Months ago, the Interior Ministry's Population Registry inserted a clause in the temporary-status visas given to asylum seekers stating that under no circumstances could they be hired.

Read more »

In Israel, partner of gay massacre victim ordered out

Thomas Schmidt with friends

Update: The day after this post, resulting international media coverage and a petition being started Israel’s interior ministry issued Thomas with a temporary visa.

Source: Ynet

By Tzahi Cohen

Thomas Schmidt lost his partner in the Tel Aviv GLBT community bar shooting 18 months ago. Now he is going to lose the life he built in Israel: The Interior ministry is insisting on deporting him from Israel by the end of the month.

Thomas Schmidt, 27, is a German citizen with temporary resident status in Israel. On Sunday the Interior Ministry told him that his visa was about to expire and that he would have to leave Israel by the end of the month – after more than six years in Israel.

Schmidt came to Israel in 2004 as a volunteer. A year later he met Nir Katz and the two became a couple. Katz's family – his mother, her partner Gili Shenhav and their five other children - took Schmidt in as one of the family. Schmidt, who had little contact with his family in Germany, found a loving home.

On August 1, 2009, Katz, whose father was killed in the IDF Zeelim base disaster, was murdered in a shooting attack at the Tel Aviv GLBT club where he was a councilor.

Katz, who was 26 when he died, left behind his life partner. After his murder, Katz's mother Ayala appealed to the Interior Ministry to allow Schmidt to remain in Israel. "In our minds, Schmidt is a member of the family in every way that counts," she explained to the Population Administration.

She noted that even after her son's murder, the family remained in contact with his lover: He was invited to Friday night dinners, celebrated birthdays together and was at the family table at a wedding.

Read more »

African migrants report torture, rape on way to Israel

Image via Wikipedia

Source: Al-Masry Al-Youm

African migrants en route to Israel are subject to torture, rape and assault by traffickers in Egypt's Sinai desert, Israeli Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) said, citing interviews it conducted with victims.

"From January to November 2010 we referred 165 women who travelled through Sinai to (Israeli) hospitals for abortions. We believe half of these women were sexually assaulted in Sinai," said Shahar Shoham, a case worker in PHR's open clinic in Jaffa.

PHR has been collecting testimony from migrants who say Bedouins whom they pay to smuggle them through Egypt's border with Israel hold them for days and sometimes weeks, demanding more cash and abusing them physically until the money is paid.

"I was beaten, electrocuted, tied up and thrown outside at night. We ate once in three days. There was one woman -- the traffickers raped her," Germai Omar, a 30-year-old Eritrean farmer, told Reuters in Tel Aviv.

He said he was detained for a month in the Sinai by the traffickers who demanded he add US$1,500 to the original fee of US$2,500. Omar contacted his family by cellphone and they gave the cash to the smugglers' contacts in Cairo.

Israel says some 35,000 migrants from Eritrea, Sudan and other African countries have entered the country illegally mostly in search of work.

Read more »

Ezra Nawi: Activist in Palestine, in Israel and a gay Arab Jew

Ezra Nawi image via Wikipedia   

By Michael Luongo

The two men’s soft banter contrasts with their rough manual labor. They call each other “habibi,” Arabic for “darling,” as they belt out commands amid the harsh clanging of the metal pipes crashing into the bed of an ancient truck. On its own, habibi has no romantic meaning for men, but I also hear them say “karim” back and forth, meaning “gentle” or “kind” one, never sure if it's another term of endearment or talk about the work. The heavy pipes need several men to lift them carefully so they do not fall onto the excited children who have gathered in this blackened, scrap strewn metal shop in Yatta, in Palestine’s West Bank.

It’s an unusual scene beyond language.

The center of attention is the activist Ezra Nawi. At 59 years old, he is a Mizrahi, or Arab, Jew, born to Iraqi immigrants. Ezra is also openly gay. He is in trouble with the law, but not on this side of the Barrier Wall. It’s the Israeli government and Army that have launched a campaign against him, hauling him and his Palestinian former lover, Fuad, through the Israeli legal system. Ezra’s homosexuality is one weapon used against him.

Ezra has most recently been accused of striking an Israeli policeman during a February 2007 Palestinian house demolition, recorded in the 2007 film Citizen Nawi by Nissim Mossek. As the house collapses, Ezra and the policeman run in.

Read more »

Why the West must do more for Iranian LGBT

Ayaz Marhoni and Mahmoud Asgari

Source: Gay City News

By Benjamin Weinthal

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s lethal homophobia requires strong medicine. The international campaign to stop the stoning of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a woman who was sentenced to death for alleged adultery, shows that the Islamic Republic of Iran is vulnerable to a human rights pressure-point campaign.

While Ashtiani could still face execution, the global effort to influence a change in the behavior of the pariah regime in Tehran has forced Iran’s rulers to temporarily backpedal from their medieval practices. Replicating that concerted drive could deliver another potent dose of behavioral therapy to force the regime to recoil from its ongoing eradication of the Iranian LGBT community.

The opening salvo in a human rights movement to end violence and bias against LGBT Iranians ought to originate from President Barack Obama, who was initially wishy-washy and aloof about human rights when Iran’s regime viciously cracked down on its civilian population during the fraudulent 2009 election.

This past September, however, the Obama administration, to its credit, imposed precedent-setting human rights sanctions against eight top-level Iranian government officials for committing torture, rape, violent beatings, and unlawful detention of Iranians. The sanctions aim to penalize only a slice of the Iranian military apparatus and regime responsible for crushing the pro-democracy protests against the doctored election results in 2009. But it is a fresh beginning.

Read more »

Web attacks target human rights sites

Image by kryptyk via Flickr

Source: BBC

Human rights groups and campaigners are being hit hard by huge web attacks launched by those opposed to their views, finds research.

Many web-based campaigning groups are being knocked offline for weeks by the attacks, it found.

The researchers expect the tempo of attacks to increase as the tools and techniques become more widespread.

It urged human rights groups and independent media groups to beef up their defences to avoid falling victim.

The research by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University tried to get a sense of how often human rights groups and independent media organisations are hit by what is known as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.

DDoS attacks try to knock a site offline by overwhelming it with data.

In the 12 months between August 2009 and September 2010 the research found evidence of 140 attacks against more than 280 different sites. The report acknowledged that these were likely to be the most high profile attacks and that many more had probably gone unreported.

"These attacks do seem to be increasingly common," said Ethan Zuckerman, one of the authors of the report.

While some attacks were triggered by specific incidents such as elections, others had no obvious cause, he said.

The report cites a sustained DDoS attack on Novaya Gazeta, the website of Russia's most liberal independent newspaper.

Deputy executive editor Sergey Sokolov is not certain who attacked his website but suspects government-sponsored Kremlin Youth organisations.

The report finds that DDoS is increasingly being used as a political tool and as a form of protest.

Attacks that recruit participants in so-called volunteer DDoS are proving popular

The report gives the example of the organisation 'Help Israel Win' which recently invited individuals to install a software package, dubbed Patriot DDos, on their computers so the machine could be used to launch attacks, on what the authors assume would be Palestinian targets.

The most recent example of a volunteer DDoS comes from Anonymous, a loose-knit group of activists, who used the method to launch attacks on the websites of firms it perceived to be anti-Wikileaks.

DDoS attacks could hit small media groups and campaigners hard because the organisations have such limited resources, said Mr Zuckerman.

"If you are a human rights organisation or independent media organisation you might be using an account you are paying £20 a month for and its very hard at that level of hosting to fend off DDoS," he told the BBC.

The attacks did not have to be prolonged, he said, to cause real problems for small campaigning groups.

"They just have to do it long enough to annoy their ISP and they will kick them off and then they have to find another place to host," said Mr Zuckerman.

The work of some groups only appears on the web, said Mr Zuckerman, so knocking them offline effectively silences the campaigners. It can take a long time for some to find a new host, upload content and re-build a site.

He said: "We see sites that do not come back online for two to three weeks."

The report also found that DDoS attacks are often only the most visible element of a much broader attack against a site or group.

"There's a very good chance that if you are experiencing DDoS you are being filtered, sent targeted e-mail to get access to your system or to snatch your passwords," he said.

Mr Zuckerman said some DDoS attacks logged in the report used hundreds or thousands of PCs in a botnet - networks of hijacked home computers - but others had just as big an effect with far fewer resources.

"There are certain attacks that seem to work if you have only one or two machines," he said.

What might cause problems in the future, he suggested, would be easy-to-use tools like those employed by Anonymous activists in support of Wikileaks.

"It seems like DDoS has become easier for more people to engage in," he said. "The threats do seem to be increasing."

In response, he said, rights groups needed to work hard to understand the threats and prepare in case they were hit.

"This community needs to get much, much smarter and much more knowledgeable," he said.

• Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University: 2010 Report on Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks [PDF}

In Israel, a border wall to stop African refugees

Source: IRIN

Israel is building a 60km-long barrier on its southern border with Egypt aimed at physically keeping out African asylum-seekers amid a rising tide of intolerance towards people widely referred to as “illegal workers".

The barrier will be built at two locations which witness the most crossings - near the Gaza strip and near Eilat. The estimated US$1.35 billion project is due to be completed at the end of 2013.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quoted in July as saying that the "flood of illegal workers infiltrating from Africa" into Israel was "a concrete threat to the Jewish and democratic character of the country".

Local news channel Ynet recently reported that Netanyahu was also considering paying African countries willing to take in Israel’s asylum-seekers.

Israel immigration authorities estimate 10,000 asylum-seekers have crossed the border so far this year, bringing the total number in the country to some 30,000. This represents a sharp rise on the 1,100 estimated to have crossed in 2006, despite the perils of the journey, which include Egyptian border guards that shoot on sight.

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Fact-checking the Israeli government’s incitement against migrants and refugees

Source: +972 Magazine

By Elizabeth Tsurkov

The public debate raging in Israel today about migrant workers and refugees is full of misleading statistics, slogans and bombastic headlines, which makes it hard to get to the core of the debate. Are migrant workers “taking over” cities across Israel, driving the crime rate up? Are the African “infiltrators” actually migrant workers exploiting Israel? Do migrant workers come to Israel to have babies that will anchor them to Israel? Here I’ll attempt to dispel some of these myths with statistics and a dose of common sense that often seems to elude this debate.

The most common myth about migrant workers and especially refugees is that they are prone to criminality (whether because of their culture/race or due to want). Reports in Israeli media abound quoting scared Israeli neighbors of foreigners who complain about the uptick in crime in their area since the migrants arrived, the foreigners “scary stares”, “hot temper” and “uncleanliness”. Even a report by the Israeli police stated that asylum seeker’s “appearance is threatening and harms the public’s sense of security”. However, the same police department, when pressed for details, provides data that shows an interesting trend – crime rates drop in Eilat as the number of asylum seekers in Israel increases (23% drop in crime since refugees began entering Israel five years ago). Similar data exists for the cities of Arad and Tel Aviv showing the same trend.

A second common myth that is aggressively promoted by the Israeli government is that migrant workers take jobs from Israelis, while the government continues to “import” 30,000 migrant workers per year. However, there is no correlation between the rate of unemployment and the number of migrant workers in Israel. According to Dr. Roy Wagner of Kav LaOved, “migrant workers are a growth engine and help create jobs: they work hard, make little money, and use services and products in the local market.” Wagner explained that unemployment can arise “when restrictive government policies force migrant workers and the local population to compete for the same segment of the labor market.”

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Israeli policy on refugees comes under scrutiny in award-winning documentary

Source: Haaretz

By Riva Gold

“The issue of refugees is not foreign to us; not to Jews, and not to the State of Israel,” says award-winning filmmaker Shai Carmeli-Polak. Shai’s documentary, “Ha'plitim,” (The refugees) seeks to expose the moral and legal questions underlying refugee status in Israel.

The film follows African asylum-seekers as they cross the Egypt-Israel border to escape life-threatening conditions, and won the Bronze Olive Award at the Montenegro International TV Festival in 2009. Shai captures their arrival and detention in Israel, interspersed with scenes of parliamentary debates surrounding Israel's policies on refugees.

The film's release started with a few 2009 screenings in other countries, but is now on a tour across Israel, accompanied by talks from Carmeli-Polak. The film recently had a screening party in its honor at the African Refugee Development Center in Tel Aviv.

While Israel is party to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, the government has not yet adopted asylum legislation. An approximate 17,000 asylum-seekers have fled to Israel from Sudan, Eritrea, Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Ivory Coast. Many have been detained in prison camps and over 270 have been returned to Egypt.

“It’s a humanitarian crisis,” says Carmeli-Polak, who became an activist for the refugee community in 2007. “People are arriving from war-torn countries, and the government wants to just give them food and send them back.”

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Gay Israeli-Palestinian couple stuck in bureaucratic nightmare

Source: Haaretz

By Dana Weiler-Polak

Media attention has recently focused on the effort to obtain residency rights for children of foreign workers. But Majed Koka is not a foreign worker. He is a gay Palestinian man from the West Bank who came to Israel at age 14 because in his hometown of Nablus, he never could have lived openly as a gay man.

"If I returned to Nablus, it would be like throwing paper into a fire," said Koka, 26, who has been living in Tel Aviv for the last 12 years.

"If I returned I'd be in big trouble, one long nightmare."

For the last eight years, Koka has lived with a partner, an Israeli citizen. In 2002, the two even signed a partnership agreement and registered themselves as married with the municipality - though legally, the state does not recognize gay marriage.

In June 2009, Koka finally asked the Interior Ministry to grant him legal residency on humanitarian grounds. Fifteen months later, he has yet to receive a response.

Meanwhile, since he is here illegally, he is subject to frequent arrests; his lawyer is constantly fighting for his release. He has been arrested nine times over the last 12 years, Koka said.

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