Tuesday, June 19, 2012

New York Times on Israeli racism against blacks

"Then there are the ”harrowing tales of cruelty by Bedouin smugglers in Sinai,” and the “risk of being shot by Egyptian officers,” but for Israeli “soldiers who picked them up,” Kershner reports that the refugees were told by the Israeli soldiers that “they were safe and welcomed them to Israel.”  There is no mention of the disturbing racism against African migrants in Israel. Kershner simply notes there are “rising tensions.”  Two weeks ago today Al-Akhbar published an article on “African home torched in Israeli racist attack.”  Two days later the American media website Black Agenda Report published a piece on the “race riots in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem” titled “Black Migrants in White Israel.”  But it’s not just Kershner’s silence on anti-African sentiment sweeping across Israel that is troubling. Apparently Palestinians and what they have endured at the hands of Israelis for nearly a century is not “all the news fit to print.” Not once is Palestine or Palestinians even mentioned. The closest Kershner comes is the comment that, “Critics say that Israel, a nation largely founded by refugees, lacks a proper immigration policy.”" (thanks Alex)