In Israel’s sinful prison, the innocent are freezing
The moral disgrace of banning the use of heaters for asylum seekers proves once again that the Holot prison must be dismantled and its 2,200 inmates released.
A migrant near the Holot detention facility. Photo by Eliyahu Hershkovitz
Jan. 12, 2015
If ever there was an expression of the State of Israel’s dehumanization of the asylum seekers taking refuge here, or further proof that the Holot detention facility cannot meet the needs of those living there but is simply a jail whose inmates are subject to the whims of their jailers, the recent winter storm certainly illustrated this.While people all over the country were trying to keep themselves and their homes warm, the inmates at Holot were banned from bringing heaters into their rooms, and forced to protect themselves from the extreme cold using layers of clothing and blankets. Most of them simply stayed in bed, using their body heat to keep warm.
All this because the Israel Prison Service, which is responsible for operating the facility, argued that it was not possible to bring heaters into the rooms because they posed a fire hazard and that there were heated areas for the residents. Following entreaties by human rights groups and MKs Michal Rosin (Meretz) and Dov Khenin (Hadash), the asylum seekers were given token means of heating, like heating pads, which barely relieved their distress.
Even given the policy of alienation and routine insensitivity that the state demonstrates toward these people, it’s hard to understand how human beings – after seeing the physical suffering in Holot during the freezing weather – wouldn’t do everything possible to prevent or relieve that suffering. Even if the state sees the asylum seekers as worthy of being incarcerated and deprived of their freedom, abandoning them to the extreme cold is an expression of inhumanity.
This moral disgrace is common to all the measures Israel takes against the asylum seekers. Their incarceration and restrictions, being tracked down and marked with numbers during their legal proceedings – these stem from an inhumane approach that is unacceptable, not only ethically but constitutionally. The High Court of Justice determined this twice when it struck down laws passed by the government that served primarily to oppress and abuse the asylum seekers.
Holot is a prison erected in sin that deprives innocent people of their freedom, without due process. The asylum seekers do not have “appropriate living conditions,” as the government argues. The recent storm proves once again that Holot must be dismantled and its 2,200 inmates released.
Asylum Seekers Freezing in the Desert January 12th-Dear Supporter,
Last week, Rabbi Jill Jacobs wrote to you about the African asylum seekers who continue to be held in Israeli prisons. More than 2,000 African asylum seekers are currently being held in Holot detention center in the Negev.
This week, reports have surfaced that their rooms at Holot have no heat, and their space heaters are being confiscated by prison guards. People who survived abuse and torture are huddled together under blankets and freezing in Israel, where they fled seeking refuge.
Today, I am asking you to add your voice and tell Supreme Court Justice Yoram Danziger that this terrible treatment of asylum seekers is unacceptable.
In the last week, as the temperatures in the Negev went down as low as 28 degrees Fahrenheit at night, prison guards confiscated space heaters that the asylum seekers were using to try to stay warm, claiming that they are a fire hazard. The best way to treat asylum seekers with the dignity they deserve as human beings is to immediately release them from Holot prison.
The Supreme Court has twice ruled that it is unlawful and intolerable to send asylum seekers to prison without a trial, noting that imprisoning asylum seekers “constitutes a severe violation of their rights. Detention takes a toll on the detainee: deprives his liberty and violates his dignity, privacy, autonomy.”
Refusing to treat asylum seekers with dignity also violates the Jewish ethical imperative to treat those escaping from slavery with care. “You shall not hand over to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you. He shall live with you in your midst, in the place which he shall choose in one of your gates which is beneficial for him; you shall not mistreat him” (Deuteronomy 23:16-17). In continuing to send survivors of abuse and torture to prisons, the state is ensuring their continued mistreatment.
Take action today: tell Justice Yoram Danziger to stop sending asylum seekers to prison.
Sincerely,
Marisa Elana James
Senior Organizer |
T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
266 West 37th Street, Suite 803, New York, NY 10018 • (212) 845-5201
266 West 37th Street, Suite 803, New York, NY 10018 • (212) 845-5201
