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To Fight all kind of Extremism in all its manifestations:- Religion, Social, Political...
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb urges killing of more U.S. diplomats in North Africa - World Watch - CBS News
A vehicle is engulfed in flames after it was set on fire inside the U.S. Consulate compound in Benghazi, Libya, Sept. 11, 2012. Inset is a photo of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, who was killed in the attack.
(Credit: Getty/AP)(CBS News) - LONDON - The North African branch of al Qaeda, known as al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), has praised the militants who attacked the U.S. Consulate in northern Libya, and called on Muslims across the region to try and kill more American diplomats.
"We incite Muslims to carry on and escalate their protests, and we invite Muslim youths for follow the footsteps of the Lions of Benghazi, by tearing down U.S. flags off their embassies in all our capital cities, torching them, after stamping them with our feet, and killing their ambassadors and diplomats, or expelling them to cleanse our land from their evil," said the group in a three-page statement posted on a jihadi web forum.
The Libyan government and U.S. officials disagree over the nature of the Benghazi attack, with Washington suggesting the incident - which left four Americans dead, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens - appears to have been essentially a protest which turned extremely violent when local well-armed militants joined the melee.
Video: Libyans seen trying to save U.S. Ambassador
Probe sought as questions over Libya attack mount
Libya witness: Stevens was alive when found
Probe sought as questions over Libya attack mount
Libya witness: Stevens was alive when found
Libyan officials, on the other hand, say the attack was well-coordinated and planned by an extremist group, and likely took months to plan. CBS News was first to see "safe-house" attacked in Benghazi. Click player at left for the full report.
While there has been no indication that AQIM played a direct role in the attack on the consulate, there have been fears that al Qaeda's North Africa franchise may be trying to gain influence in Libya amid the security chaos across the north of the country left in the wake of the Arab Spring uprising which ousted long-time dictator Muammar Qaddafi.
U.S. military commanders have also expressed concern that AQIM - thought to be al Qaeda's best-funded branch due to its heavy reliance on kidnap and extortion plots - may be working in greater coordination with other Islamic extremist groups across the region, including Boko Haram in Nigeria, and al-Shaabab in Somalia.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, based in Yemen, released a statement over the weekend, also praising the Libya attack and suggesting the killing this summer of al Qaeda's No. 2 commander, Abu Yahya al-Libi, in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan was also a motivation for the Libyan militants to attack the American consulate.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Ethiopia Muslims condemn anti-Prophet film, call for calm in Islamic world
Ethiopia Muslim students condemn anti-Islam “film” but call for calm in Islamic world.
ADDIS ABABA: A group of Muslim students in Ethiopia have lashed out at the anti-Islam “film” clip that has sparked widespread protests across the Islamic world, calling it an “attack on Islam” and demanded that action be taken against the producers of the film in the United States.
However, they told Bikyamasr.com that “violence is not an appropriate response” to the anger the film created.
“We are Muslims and we feel insulted and threatened by this stupid film that was promoted by radical Christians,” one of the group, Mohamed, told Bikyamasr.com on Saturday. “But at the same time, we are also Muslims and must follow the path of the Prophet in promoting a different perspective.”
The group of students, who in the past few months have called for democratic change and political freedoms, said that violence is not the answer.
“We have seen all the turmoil that protests and clashes have brought. It won’t get the job done in terms of changing how the west perceives Muslims and Islam. We have to do better,” they said.
For them, peaceful demonstrations are important, “but they must remain peaceful. We don’t feel the Prophet would want to see people killed over religion in this manner. It is unproductive.”
While the Muslims said that they were contemplating a demonstration, following the violence in the Middle East that has arisen, they are looking for alternative routes.
“We are not an Islamic country so we have to think of different ideas to battle this anti-Islam sentiment. And to do so is important because it can give the moral authority back to Muslims,” they argued.
Protests in the Middle East have left at least 6 people dead in Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon, Libya and other countries in the past three days of violence that has erupted.
While calm has largely returned to the region on Saturday, there are fears that without a concerted action by the United States against the producers, violence and anger could erupt once again.
“Here in Ethiopia we are keenly aware of the anger. We are angry, and we hope Obama and others in the US begin to understand that this is more than about a film, it is about the hatred being allowed to continue against Islam in the US and Europe,” they added.
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Friday, September 14, 2012
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Somalia: Muslims shoot three converts from Islam to Christianity - jihadwatch.org
Muhammad said: "Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him" (Bukhari 9.84.57). The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law according to all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence. Yet Muslim spokesmen such as Harris Zafar, Mustafa Akyol, Salam al-Marayati, M. Cherif Bassiouni, and Ali Eteraz(among many others) have assured us that Islam doesn't punish apostasy. I expect that Zafar, Akyol, al-Marayati, Bassiouni, and Eteraz will immediately be jetting over to Mogadishu to explain to al-Shabaab that they're getting Islam all wrong, wrong, wrong, and should stop shooting converts immediately.
"Somali Christians Fear Militant Islam at Home and Abroad," by Wasul Chemosi for International Christian Concern, September 7 (thanks to Benedict):
Washington, D.C. September 7 (International Christian Concern) – Al Shabab, an Al Qaeda-linked terror group in Somalia, has sought to rid the region of Christians and is specifically targeting Christian converts from Islam. Many Somali Christians, having fled persecution in their homeland, have found little security in neighbouring East African countries. Even in the Christian-majority country of Kenya, radical Islam is steadily gaining numbers and influence.
Two months ago, three Christian converts from Islam returned to their homeland to attend a university in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu. The men, whose identities have been concealed for their protection, had been working in Ethiopia and converted to Christianity in 2005. Upon their return, however, people grew suspicious when the men were not seen praying at the local mosque.“One of our fellow students jokingly questioned us about why we were not serious about attending prayers at the mosque,” recalled one of the men. “I kept quiet and the discussion ended. Three days later is when we were attacked.”On June 25, six armed Al Shabab militants entered the Christians’ home and opened fire. The Christians were found by neighbors and were rushed to the hospital. All three suffered gunshot wounds and, after spending a week in the hospital, they determined it was no longer safe to live in Somalia. The men crossed the southern border into eastern Kenya joining thousands of other displaced Somalis in refugee camps in Dadaab.Local sources told ICC that Al Shabab had been closely monitoring the men for months. “New arrivals outside of Somalia are monitored by Al Shabab because they are considered to support western ideologies, including foreign religions, and they are viewed as sympathizers to the West,” said a Somali journalist in the area. “That is why they were victimized.”The men’s plight is one among many acts of violent extremism that has targeted the Somali Christian community in recent months. In a similar case, a Christian family fled Buula-barde, a village in central Somalia, after receiving death threats in May. “The extremists began sending threatening messages to their mobile phones to recant their faith or face execution,” a Christian who knows the family told ICC. “Al Shabab is monitoring religious groups and discovered that the family had embraced Christianity. The family fled to Ethiopia.”Al-Shabab and its sympathizers are believed to be responsible for many attacks in East African countries, and the escalating violence targeting Christians raises concerns that Islamic extremism is on the rise. “Pastors and Christians are very afraid,” said Imam Hussein, an Ethiopian Christian convert from Islam who came to Kenya after fleeing persecution in his home town. “I know people, mainly Christian converts, who had to leave their homes and their families because of pressures from these terrorists. It’s very dangerous. Although these militants are very few in Kenya, they are very fanatic, like al-Qaeda or the Taliban. Many Muslims are even against them and stand with the Christian community.”Al-Shabab adheres to a strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law that includes amputating the hands of thieves and stoning adulterous women. Their radical agenda is exposed when reading one of the many death threats received by Christian converts in the region:“Stop your harmful ideologies and preaching to the Muslims,” read a warning to a Somali Christian in December. “Some Somali Muslims are already affected by this cancer of Christianity… they will be under the sword of the mujahedeen (holy worriers)... We know where you are... We ask Allah to help us make his purpose reign... We are reaching millions of youth to join our jihad against the enemy of Islam and to terrorize by any means we can to make them understand that they are nothing but lowly infidels.”
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Protesters attack U.S. diplomatic compounds in Egypt, Libya against Geert Wilders' film "Fitna," - CNN.com
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Four U.S. personnel, including ambassador, are killed in Libya, the U.S. says
- Angry protesters attack U.S. diplomatic compounds in Egypt and Libya
- Obama says the U.S. is working to protect its citizens worldwide
Cairo (CNN) -- The United States said it was taking measures to protect its citizens worldwide after protesters angry about an online film considered offensive to Islam attacked U.S. diplomatic compounds in Libya and Egypt Tuesday.
In Libya, witnesses say members of a radical Islamist group called Ansar al-Sharia protested near the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, where NATO jets established no-fly zones last year to halt ground attacks from then-Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi.
The group then clashed with security forces in the city, blocking roads leading to the consulate, witnesses said.
The U.S. ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, was killed in the attack, the State Department said. Sean Smith, a Foreign Service information management officer, and two other U.S. personnel also died in the violence in Benghazi, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement Wednesday.
"Our hearts go out to all their families and colleagues," Clinton said.
"All the Americans we lost in yesterday's attacks made the ultimate sacrifice. We condemn this vicious and violent attack that took their lives, which they had committed to helping the Libyan people reach for a better future," she added.
In an earlier statement, Clinton said she condemned the attack on the U.S. facilities "in the strongest terms" and that following Tuesday's events, the U.S. government was "working with partner countries around the world to protect our personnel, our missions and American citizens worldwide."
Libya's General National Congress also condemned the attack in Benghazi, saying it "led to the regrettable injury and death of a number of individuals." Lawmakers said in a statement Tuesday night that they were investigating.
It was unclear whether the two attacks were coordinated, CNN national security contributor Fran Townsend said Tuesday night.
Source: CNN
"One such breach of an embassy or consulate's walls or security on any given day would be tremendous news. ... The fact that two of them happened on the same day that is the 9/11 anniversary where Americans are remembering those that we lost, you have to ask yourself, what are American officials trying to understand about this and whether or not these two are related?" she asked.
In Cairo, several men scaled the walls of the U.S. Embassy and tore down its American flag, according to CNN producer Mohamed Fadel Fahmy, who was on the scene.
Police and army personnel formed defensive lines around the embassy in an effort to prevent demonstrators from advancing, but not before the protesters affixed a black flag atop a ladder in the American compound.
The black flag, which hangs in full view from inside the complex, is adorned with white characters that read, "There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his messenger," an emblem often used by Islamic radicals.
A volley of warning shots were fired as a large crowd gathered around the compound, although it is not clear who fired the shots.
Egyptian groups point to U.S. websites, including YouTube, that have scenes from the film. Some anti-Muslim blogs also have flagged the movie.
In a series of disjointed scenes, filmmakers depict Prophet Mohammed as a child molester, womanizer and ruthless killer.
The movie was made by Sam Bacile, an Israeli-American real-estate developer, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Bacile -- who wrote, directed and produced the film -- said he wanted to showcase his view of Islam as a hateful religion, the Journal reported, citing a telephone interview with him.
Bacile, 52, told the newspaper that to make the film, he had raised $5 million from about 100 Jewish donors, who he declined to identify. He said he made the two-hour movie over a three-month period last year in California, using about 60 actors and 45 crew members, the Journal reported.
Most of the Muslim world considers depictions of Mohammed to be blasphemous and deeply offensive.
"Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet," Clinton said. "The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation."
But she stressed that "there is never any justification for violent acts of this kind."
Embassy officials issued a warning to Americans in Egypt, telling them to avoid the demonstrations which "may gather in front of the U.S. Embassy, or Egyptian government buildings such as the People's Assembly and Ministry of Interior."
"It is unclear if large numbers will take to the streets, but clashes may occur should two opposing groups come into contact with one another," the U.S. Embassy said in a statement. "Large gatherings and non-essential travel in and around downtown and Garden City should be avoided this afternoon."
Frenzied protesters could been seen Tuesday afternoon holding up bits of a shredded American flag to television camera crews while chanting anti-U.S. slogans.
An embassy phone operator told CNN that the compound had been cleared of diplomatic personnel earlier in the day, ahead of the apparent threat, while Egyptian riot police and the army were called in.
"This is an expression of a feeling that is thought to be an insult," said Nizih El Naggary, a spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry. "But events like this are extremely deplorable. And we have to work to get things under control."
The Foreign Ministry issued a statement Tuesday, pledging to protect embassies and warning of the protests' potentially debilitating effects on the Egyptian economy.
"There are police forces at the demonstrations," El Naggary said. "They should be protecting the embassy and asking people to leave."
Several individuals claimed responsibility for organizing the demonstrations Tuesday, including Salafist leader Wesam Abdel-Wareth, who is president of Egypt's conservative Hekma television channel.
Mohamed al-Zawahiri -- the brother of al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri -- added, "We called for the peaceful protest joined by different Islamic factions including the Islamicc Jihad (and the) Hazem Abu Ismael movement."
"We were surprised to see the big numbers show up, including the soccer Ultra fans," he said. "I just want to say, how would the Americans feel if films insulting leading Christian figures like the pope or historical figures like Abraham Lincoln were produced?"
He added that "the film portrays the prophet in a very ugly manner, alluding to topics like sex, which is not acceptable."
The U.S. Embassy in Cairo announced that it had canceled visa services for Wednesday.
It also said in a statement that it "condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims -- as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions."
"Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy," the statement said. "We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others."
But the U.S. Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, suggested that the embassy's statement had its priorities wrong.
"It's disgraceful that the Obama Administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks," Romney said in a statement released late Tuesday.
He said he was "outraged" by the attacks in Libya and Egypt.
Obama released a strongly worded statement Wednesday, condemning what he called the "outrageous attack" on the Benghazi compound that took the lives of four Americans.
"They exemplified America's commitment to freedom, justice, and partnership with nations and people around the globe, and stand in stark contrast to those who callously took their lives," the president said.
Obama also announced that he has ordered his administration "to provide all necessary resources to support the security of our personnel in Libya, and to increase security at our diplomatic posts around the globe.
"While the United States rejects efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others, we must all unequivocally oppose the kind of senseless violence that took the lives of these public servants," he added.
Demonstrations elicited a mixture of reactions from the Egyptian street, where last year tens of thousands turned out in opposition to former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
This summer, Egypt's first Islamist president, Mohamed Morsy, was sworn into power at Tahrir Square, the scene of the nation's revolution in 2011.
Though Tuesday's embassy protests are the first that Morsy has dealt with, Egypt recently produced similar scenarios when protesters attacked the Israeli and Syrian embassies in unrelated episodes.
"These protests are a bad image for Egypt," said a Cairo street vendor named Ahmed. "Of course I'm against insulting Islam, but it's the undereducated, poor people who are out here causing problems."
"All I want for Egypt is security and stability," he said. "And as you can see this isn't it."
The incident occurred on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks as crowds gathered across the United States in somber remembrance of a day that left nearly 3,000 people dead.
Tuesday's focus on the controversial film also drew comparisons to outcry generated from a 2008 movie produced by an anti-Muslim Dutch lawmaker, which then sought to portray Islam as a violent religion.
Geert Wilders' film "Fitna," which he released online, featured images of terrorist acts superimposed over verses from the Quran.
CNN's Ian Lee in Cairo, Jomana Karadsheh, Matt Smith, Brian Walker, Elise Labott, Paul Cruickshank and Tracy Doueiry contributed to this report
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Saudi Arabia warns against travel to Ethiopia | GulfNews.com
Manama: Saudi Arabia has warned Saudi citizens of the risks of travel to Ethiopia, citing sporadic clashes between Muslims and the police.
Saudi citizens should avoid going to the African country until the tension is eased and the situation is settled, the interior ministry said, local Arabic daily Okaz reported on Sunday.
The travel warning was issued based on a note from the Saudi ambassador in Addis Ababa, the statement said.
“In Ramadan, seven Saudis were arrested in different places as they were strolling in the suburbs of the capital or engaged — with good intentions — in charitable activities,” Abdul Baqi Ahmad Ajlan, the Saudi ambassador in Addis Ababa, said, quoted by the daily. “The embassy had to exert exceptional efforts to secure their release and repatriate them,” he said.
The embassy posted warnings at its building in the Ethiopian capital and sent short mobile messages to warn its nationals after it noted that the number of Saudi tourists increased dramatically.
The diplomat said they urged the Ethiopian foreign ministry to ask its embassy in Riyadh and consulate in Jeddah to provide Saudi citizens applying for visas to go to Ethiopia with guidelines and information about the local laws.
Applicants should be warned about attitudes and activities that are seemingly based on good intentions, but are deemed illegal in the African country. They include giving off donations and supporting charity foundations, he said.
“It would be similar to the instructions that the Saudi embassies provide to visa applicants so that visitors or people planning to perform Umrah or Haj [pilgrimage] are fully aware of the Saudi laws. That way, everybody knows for instance that a death sentence awaits anyone guilty of importing or trafficking in drugs,” the ambassador said.
According to Saudi officials, two of the seven Saudis arrested in July were distributing 20 cows in the Merkato area in Addis Ababa while a third was detained as he was bringing them their dinner. The fourth Saudi, married to an Ethiopian woman, was held while he was giving away donations to the needy in front of his house. The others were arrested as they distributed booklets promoting Islam, the Saudi officials said.
The Ethiopian authorities said they arrested the Saudi nationals on suspicion of financing terrorist activities in the country.
The arrests were made days after the Ethiopian police clashed with Muslims protesters who accused the state of interfering in their religion.
According to local media, “the protesters blocked the entrance of the Anwar Mosque in the west of the capital Addis Ababa and hurled stones at riot police who had surrounded the compound after noon prayers”.
The government said that it was “determined to prevent Islamic militancy and war mongering spilling over from neighbouring Sudan or lawless Somalia”.
Friday, September 7, 2012
UN Insists Israel Admit Black Africans Trapped On Border, As Illegal Immigration Crisis Deepens - International Business Times
Israel, the promised land of the "chosen people," doesn't want Africans.
The Eritreans were attempting to cross illegally into Israel. In response, Israeli police even prevented physicians from providing aid to the migrants, according to Haaretz.
This incident is the latest in what has been a long summer of anti-immigration protests, counter-protests and controversy in Israel over the status of African immigrants. The New Jersey-sized country with a population of 8 million has received a surge of around 60,000 immigrants from all over Africa in the past year, with another 700 coming in every week.
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According to the Israeli Defense Force, as of 2008, most of the illegal immigrants were coming from Eritrea,Sudan, Ethiopia, Cote d'Ivoire andNigeria. About 85 percent of the immigrants are male.
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The Egypt-Israel fence is one of the most popular entry points into Israel for these migrants. Israel is not legally allowed to deport anyone from Eritrea, Sudan orSomalia, because their lives would be at stake upon returning home, due to the instability in those countries.
However on Wednesday, the Israeli government also said they had no legal obligation to allow the Eritreans in question into the country, despite the U.N. High Commission for Refugees urging Israel to accept them.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a conference on May 29 that African migrants are "a national security threat, endangering the country's Jewish majority," the Economist reported.
Israel is a very Jewish- and ethno-centric country. Netanyahu called for the construction of a steel wall along the Egyptian border; otherwise Israel would be "swamped by a continent look for work."
The illegal immigrants are also blamed for increased levels in crime in the neighborhoods where they live. A law passed around the same time said that any immigrants caught without documents by the authorities could face a three-year jail sentence.
In early June, protests erupted all over Tel Aviv, with more than a thousand people holding signs reading "This is not Africa," "Blacks out," and "Stop talking, start expelling!"
In response, leftist groups started counter-protests, but anti-immigrant sentiment runs high, partly out of fear that many of the migrants might be informants for terrorist groups.
Africans who live in Israel, including Ethiopian Jews who were brought to Israel in the 1980s and1990s and now compromise a population of 120,000, are also facing harsh discrimination. African-owned shops areoften targets of threats and violence.
In June, The Independent reported that an Eritrean woman was threatened by two men with a knife. During one protest, a black boy was pulled from his bike by a group of 10 or 15 boys and beaten up, according to the Telegraph.
The irony of a country started by refugees fleeing genocide refusing to accept economic refugees themselves is not lost. Yohannes Bayu, an Ethiopian who run's Israel's only refugee shelter told the Economist "How can a country founded by refugees turn against them?"
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Ethiopia women, girls languish in Israel jails as racism continues to grow
Ethiopian women face jail, hardships, racism in Israel.
TEL AVIV: Already victims of human trafficking, having been kidnapped from their home country of Ethiopia, brought to Egypt’s Sinai and captured as they tried to enter Israel illegally, some 20 Ethiopian women and girls continue to face hardships as the Israeli government skirts their own laws to protect victims of human trafficking.
Halle, a 22-year-old Ethiopian woman who illegally entered Israel last year and currently works as a domestic worker without proper documentation, told Bikyamasr.com that she doesn’t expect the girls and women currently being held in jails in the country will change their stance.
“They don’t care about us black people. Israel is not the place we thought it would be,” she began. “And if I go to get help or try to get asylum, I could end up just like them. It is from one suffering to another we Ethiopian women go to.”
According to local Israeli reports, the women, half of whom are 14- and 15-years-old, and classified as “unaccompanied minors,” under Israel’s own laws were supposed to be transferred to boarding schools and not sent to prison.
However, the country’s education ministry thought differently, refusing to accept the girls and keeping them locked up in Givon and Saharonim jails.
A UN refugee official, who spoke to Bikyamasr.com on condition of anonymity, said that “we are working toward ending these policies that threaten the health and safety of women refugees who pose no violent threat to Israeli society.”
But the official added it is an uphill battle and one that officials have appeared unwilling to change, especially in light of the recent deportations of African migrants to their country of origin, without regard to their potential safety upon return.
The jails the young Ethiopians are held are adult prisons and not meant to house juveniles.
As for the adults, Haaretz newspaper reported they “were supposed to have been sent to Maagan, a shelter for female victims of trafficking run by the Social Affairs Ministry.”
With Maagan already full, the adults have joined the young girls in the two prisons.
Under Israel’s own laws, human trafficking victims should be held only until another solution can be found for them. As for minors, they can be held for only 60 days.
Currently, the young teenagers have been in prison for over three months beyond the 60 day limit.
“It is the worst situation imaginable. I spent two weeks in an Israel jail before they put me in a women’s home,” added Halle. “The conditions are horrible and they treat us like lesser people who deserve no better than a cell. It is barbaric.”
All this comes on the heels of killings of Africans in Israel this summer.
“We hear it daily in this country,” said one Eritrean worker, who asked Bikyamasr.com not to be named due to the risk of losing his work permit. “The government here treats us bad, but it is everyday Israelis that we see are becoming more vocal in their hate for black people.”
The workers’ statements from East Africa come a week after three Eritreans were stabbed in a south Tel Aviv Internet cafe by an Israeli man who fled the scene.
Police have been unable to identify the attacker, nor have they uncovered a motive for the violent attack, +972 Magazine reported.
Isias Tesprem, the owner of the cafe in the Shapira neighborhood, told reporters he did not recognize the attacker.
“I never expected anything like this to happen — we have no outstanding debts and have not hurt anyone,” said Tesprem, who has been in Israel for five years.
The attack was the latest in a string of violent incidents targeting African migrants from Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea, believed to number 60,000 to 70,000 in Israel.
Their status has been the source of intense political discussions.
It is not the first violent attack against Africans in the country.
On July 20, an Eritrean man was shot in the early morning when an unknown assailant opened fire in a Shapira neighborhood building where several Eritreans were sleeping in the hallway, the Israeli news outlet Ynet reported.
ActiveStills.org posted photos from the crime scene, reporting that the shooting took place in the garden outside the building.
No arrests have been made and police have said they believe the incident was most likely a robbery.
But Africans disagree, telling Bikyamasr.com that the increase in violence is part of the overall campaign to rid the country of “black Africans.”
“It can be felt everywhere. When we walk on the street and especially if we are walking with a white Israeli girl,” said Ahmad, a Sudanese construction worker who arrived in Israel two years ago via Egypt.
Jerusalem has seen an uptick in anti-migrant violence in recent months.
On July 12, a man and his pregnant wife, both from Eritrea, were injured when their apartment was the target of arson. The fire was set barely five weeks after a similar attack transpired in the Israeli capital. In both cases, the fire was set at the entrance to the apartment door.
Israel is continuing its deportation of African migrants in a crackdown government officials have described as the protection of “infiltrators.”
In June and July, thousands of Africans were booted from the country, and the government did not mince words when doing so.
Government spokesman Mark Regev said Israel is the “Jewish homeland” and it has “no obligation to offer asylum” to African migrants.
“Israel is a small country. We are 8 million people and geographically, we’re the size of [the US state] New Jersey. We are too small to be the solution of all of Africa’s problems,” he said.
For the Africans who remain in the country, the rising racism against them is a worrying prospect for people who fear returning to their own country. They told Bikyamasr.com that by using these tactics and the police not finding suspects in the string of killings perpetrated against Africans, it shows the government “is unwilling to live up to its moral obligation to help those in need.”
Ahmad argued that “Israel was supposed to be a place that helps those in need, but it turns out they are as racist as other countries against us Africans and also against the Palestinians.”
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