An African asylum seeker holding matzah and an alternative Passover Haggadah outside the Holot detention center (Photo: Ziv Oren)

Hundreds of refugees and Israeli activists hold Passover Seder outside prison

Israeli activists and African asylum seekers held an alternative Passover Seder event Friday outside the Holot detention center in the Negev desert, where 1,800 African migrants are currently being held. Hundreds of African asylum seekers from the detention center attended the event, during which activists highlighted the connection between the story of the Jewish exodus from…

Israeli activists and African asylum seekers jailed in Holot detention center protest outside Saharonim prison in solidarity with African asylum seekers on hunger strike, January 18, 2014. About 50 African asylum seekers have been on hunger strike for two weeks (Photo: Activestills)

Human rights organizations call on the government to recognize the rights of asylum seekers

Human rights organizations: Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, Hotline for Refugees and Migrants and the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network, call on the Israeli government to recognise and protect the needs and rights of asylum seekers in its territory. Israel is home to about 53,000 African asylum seekers. According to the Ministry of Interior (MOI), 49,000 of…

Palestinian workers from the occupied West Bank outside the Nil'in checkpoint, October 2013 (Photo: Activestills)

Report: Failures in treatment of claims presented by migrant, asylum seeker and Palestinian workers to the National Insurance Institute

Kav LaOved (NGO) published a new report in English titled “National Insurance Institute (NII) and Non-Israeli Workers: Failures in treatment of claims presented by migrants, asylum seekers and Palestinian workers.” This report deals with the structure, management, and enforcement of the rights that the NII is legally required to provide to these three categories of…

Asylum seekers and refugees strike, January 2014 (Photo: Activestills)

Asylum seekers are forced to forgo the right to strike

Asylum seekers returning to work after the strike last January were required to sign contracts undermining their employment conditions. According to Noa Kaufman, Coordinator for Refugee and Asylum Seeker Workers in Kav La’Oved, soon after the asylum seeker workers employed in restaurants, hotels, and maintenance went out on strike, many of their employers came out…

African asylum seekers renew protests

After more than a month of continuous protests and actions, the African asylum seeker community in Israel declared Wednesday an “International day of solidarity with the African asylum seeker community in Israel.” Some 5,000 demonstrators marching from south Tel Aviv to the U.S. Embassy, where they stood silently with tape covering their mouths in protest…