The state of Israel was founded in 1948 as, among other things, a sanctuary for Jews, yet refugees fleeing persecution today find no safe haven there. Over sixty years after its founding, Israel does not have a predictable, objective asylum system rooted in the rule of law and its international obligations under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (the 1951 Convention), which Israel ratified in 1954. Rather, the refugee regime, in terms of both status determination and conditions of stay, is restrictive and inconsistent, governed on an ad hoc basis. If the 2008 Prevention of Infiltration Law (the Anti-Infiltration Bill or the Bill) currently pending in parliament (the Knesset) is passed in its current form, things will become even worse for refugees.
Gravely concerned about this state of affairs, in April 2010 the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) sent two representatives of Fahamu and a representative of its member, the Italian Refugee Council (CIR), on a week-long mission to Israel, to investigate its asylum system in general and the Anti-Infiltration Bill in particular through meetings with civil society, government, refugees and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). This report summarises the findings of their mission and some supplementary desk-based research, and recommends law and policy reform to bring Israel’s asylum system in line with its international legal obligations.
This report begins by contextualising the Anti-Infiltration Bill within Israel’s asylum system, however, this system must also be contextualised within the particularities of Israeli statehood. With this context and background in place, the report goes on to describe the Anti-Infiltration Bill: its historic origins, what it proposes, how it will effect refugees and civil society if passed into law and how it falls short of Israel’s international legal obligations. The report concludes by recommending that Israeli lawmakers adopt and implement a comprehensive asylum policy, which would include discarding or amending the Bill.
Disclaimer: This report was finalized on 1 May 2010. On 28 July 2010, the anti-infiltration bill was withdrawn at the request of the Ministry of Defence. This development was received by local and international NGOs with satisfaction, but also with apprehension. In a motion passed on 18 July 2010, the government had decided that a team headed by the Minister of Justice and the Minister of the Interior would offer additional solutions to the problem of infiltration, within 60 days. Thus the possibility that the forthcoming proposal will make no provision to protect the rights of refugees remains.