Malin Fezehai, "Israel’s Chilly Reception for African Asylum Seekers": The New York Times's War Against Israel Continues

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Did you know that Israel, which is the size of New Jersey, is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, even more so if you take into account that the largely uninhabitable Negev Desert comprises 60 percent of Israel's land mass, but is home to only 8 percent its population?

Did you know that 92,000 Ethiopians, including Jews and Falash Muras, have immigrated to Israel, many with the help of the Israeli Mossad?

Well, in a New York Times guest op-ed entitled "Israel’s Chilly Reception for African Asylum Seekers," Malin Fezehai informs us:

"As the continuing refugee crisis in Europe demonstrates, Israel is not alone in trying to deter refugees. But according to a report in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, it has the distinction of having one of the lowest asylum acceptance rates in the Western world. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once warned that the arrival of African people poses a demographic risk to Israel: 'If we don’t stop their entry, the problem that currently stands at 60,000 could grow to 600,000, and that threatens our existence as a Jewish and democratic state.'"

According to the Haaretz article entitled "By the Numbers: Israel Recognizes Less Than 1% of Asylum Seekers" by Alona Ferber, which is cited by Fezehai:

"Israel has only recognized some 200 refugees since signing the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees – making it one of the least welcoming countries in the Western world when it comes to granting asylum.

. . . .

That said, the situation in Israel is complicated, and there's more to the picture than the numbers alone show. In addition, along with asylum granted under the Convention, Israel has accepted groups of refugees on an individual basis, including around 100 Bosnian Muslims in the '90s; a few hundred Vietnamese, known as 'boat people,' in the '70s; and nearly 6,000 members of the South Lebanese Army and their families after Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000. In 2007, former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert gave exceptional temporary residence to around 500 Darfurian asylum seekers."

"The situation in Israel is complicated"? Indeed, and it is worth observing that the Haaretz article makes no reference to the 92,000 Ethiopians who immigrated to Israel, or the some one million immigrants to Israel from the former Soviet Union, or the some 600,000 Jews from the Muslim Middle East who fled their homes and made their way to Israel. These were not "asylum seekers," or maybe they shouldn't be considered as such because most of them were Jewish?

With all the death and destruction in the world, the op-ed page of The New York Times again focuses its attention on would-be transgressions of tiny Israel. Yes, Andrew Rosenthal, this is disgusting.