In Israel, a rabbinical plan to help Africans facing deportation
Susan Silverman has proposed the Anne Frank Home Sanctuary movement, calling on members of Rabbis for Human Rights to house asylum-seekers the prime minister plans to deport.
Eritrean migrants at a demonstration January 17 outside the Israeli Knesset in Jerusalem against the Israeli government’s policy to deport refugees and asylum-seekers to Uganda and Rwanda. Hebrew signs read “no for deportation, Rwanda equal to death” and “slaves for sale.” AP Photo/Oded Balilty.
A prominent rabbi in Israel has asked her peers to provide sanctuary for nearly 40,000 African asylum seekers who could soon be deported by the government.
Rabbi Susan Silverman, the older sister of comedian Sarah Silverman, is a Jerusalem-based community activist who was once taken into police custody for demanding that women be allowed to read from a Torah at the Western Wall.
In December, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the government will deport all African asylum seekers by the end of March if they do not accept the government’s offer of $3,500 and a ticket out of the country. Most come from Eritrea and Sudan and entered Israel illegally via Egypt.
