Gathering in Tel-Aviv, Israelis, immigrants, foreign workers and asylum seekers honored World Refugee Day, which was commemorated on Thursday night with a party and concert at Gan Hahashmal at 7 p.m. According to organizers, during the last year the African migrant community in Israel – numbering between 50,000 and 60,000 – has been dealt with a series of setbacks.

The government has begun enforcing the anti-infiltration law, locking up migrants in detention centers in the South for indefinite periods of time without trial for the crime of entering Israel illegally. Also earlier this month, the Knesset passed a law severely limiting the transfer of money out of Israel by African migrants. In recent months, the Interior Ministry announced that around 2,000 North Sudanese have already been willfully deported home by way of a third country, though a large percentage of them were in prison when they agreed to be sent home instead of remaining imprisoned. In the meantime, those who remain in Israel live in uncertainty, without legal asylum seeker status, and unsure for how long they can stay before they will be deported or put in a detention center in southern Israel.

Eritrean asylum seekers gathering in Tel-Aviv on World Refugee Day (Photo: Activestills)

Tonight, on Saturday, the Garden Library presents: “One Strong Black”, an original Sudanese theater show initiated by a group of asylum seekers from Sudan, at 8:00 PM, at The Garden Library in Lewinsky Garden, South Tel-Aviv, near the Central Bus Station. The play tells the story of a Sudanese asylum seeker in Israel, and wishes to initiate discussion and change thoughts regarding this community in Israel. The show is performed both in Hebrew and Arabic. The event will include live music shows from the different asylum seekers communities before and after the show. Music will start at 7:00 PM.

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