The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) has published on Sunday its annual State of the Human Rights Report for 2012. The report indicates that there has been a severe deterioration in the country’s social and civil rights during the last year of the neo-liberal and extreme-right wing Netanyahu’s government.

The report called 2012 “a year of record of incitement and violence,” against refugees or asylum seekers, particularly from African countries. The report documents numerous violent incidents, including firebombs hurled at homes and kindergartens in Tel Aviv, apartments set on fire in Jerusalem, refugees being stabbed, violent demonstrations in various neighborhoods, attacks of different kinds, and humiliation.

African immigrants organized by Amnesty International demand their rights in the annual human rights march in Tel Aviv, December 7, 2012 (Photo: Activestills)

This year saw a new anti-migrant and refugees law implemented, ruling that any labor seekers from Africa who enter Israel illegally from Egypt can be imprisoned for three years – and in some cases for an unlimited time – without the benefit of a trial. The law also permits administrative detention for an unlimited timeframe. With respect to the right to assemble, the ACRI reported that 2012 saw the “end to an era of spontaneous protests,” as new protocols where instated in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem that permit protesting in public spaces only after official permission is granted. According to the new regulations, tents may not be erected and protests must not be held in public spaces without such prior permission. In addition, the report said that police have made it hard for protests to organize and thus damaged freedom of speech.

“There is no affordable housing and water has become a luxury, but large social protests are no longer permitted in public spaces and the High Court is no longer accessible,” the report says, “Privatization is penetrating the police and courts. In Arab and Bedouin villages houses continue to be destroyed, and African migrants are still being chased incessantly. The occupation and discriminatory regime continue.”