When words become deeds

An update from the director of the Hotline for Migrant Workers following the attacks and threats received yesterday. Inspiring stuff…

Dear friends,

We’ve received three phone calls to the Hotline yesterday.
The first call: “Is this the Hotline for sons of bitches Nazi infiltrators who rape Jewish women?” The Hotline volunteer hung up.
Second call: “Where is your office?” The Hotline volunteer hung up .

Third call: “I want your address so I can burn you, to do to your daughters what they’re doing to ours, you bitch.”

These calls occurred less than three hours after the Minister of Interior, Eli Yishai, announced in the media that all asylum seekers must be jailed, that most of them are criminals and that all those who assists them are bleeding hearts who are damaging the Zionist enterprise.

We place the responsibility for the threats against the Hotline for Migrant Workers and other human rights organizations on Eli Yishai and other ministers who are busy inciting hatred. Unfortunately, this is not the first time Eli Yishai is leading the establishment’s calculated campaign against asylum seekers and human rights organizations that protest their rights. We have grown accustomed to Eli Yishai’s incitement.
We won’t let them weaken our spirit! The Hotline for Migrant Workers will continue doing its job and carrying out its’ moral duty to protect the human rights of asylum seekers and migrant workers.

Our work bears fruit – last Monday, the Supreme Court accepted an administrative petition filed by an Ethiopian asylum seeker, ruling that the state must provide adequate translation services in asylum interviews.
Last Monday, the Supreme Court accepted an administrative appeal (Hebrew) filed by an Ethiopian asylum seeker. The Supreme Court ruled that the state is obligated to provide adequate translation services in refugee status determination (RSD) interviews.

The Supreme Court ruled that there were flaws in the procedure of examining the appellant’s asylum request. The Ministry of Interior relied on a detained asylum seeker as a translator in part of the procedure, which led the Court to question whether “the interview conducted by the RSD Unit allowed the appellant to present his claim clearly” and whether “no significant misunderstandings were made, ones which would affect the assessment of the appellants credibility, which was made based on this interview.”

The Court ruled that the state must provide adequate translation services in RSD interviews and that the state should learn from the extensive experience of  the UNHCR on how to provide such translation services. Regarding the specific case, the ruling stated: “it is not reasonable that the State of Israel does not provide translators to Oromo asylum seekers who are unable to adequately communicate in other languages.”

The Supreme Court relied in its ruling on a report published by the Hotline for Migrant Workers, Until our hearts are completely hardened: Asylum Produces in Israel and stated that even when the state provides translators in the language spoken by the asylum seeker, “when the interviewer and relevant authorities examine the answers provided by the asylum seeker to the question posed by the interviewer as written in the protocol of the interview, they must keep in mind that some details and nuances will be ‘lost in translation’, and this applies to the stage of the judicial review as well.” This statement is reinforced by the finding of the Hotline for Migrant Workers report that show that most asylum requests in Israel are denied based on a ‘lack of credibility’  by focusing on incongruities in the minutest details of the asylum interview.

Therefore, the Supreme Court accepted the appeal on the verdict of the Jerusalem District Court, and ordered the Ministry of Interior to conduct an asylum interview to the appellant in the Oromo language using a translator. The Court also stated that recording the asylum interviews would greatly promote the transparency of the procedure and the ability to conduct and effective judicial review of them.

The Court also mentioned that the fact that the asylum seeker did not file an asylum claim in Sudan and did not state that he is an Ethiopian national upon arrival in Israel does not disprove the claim that he will be persecuted if returned to Ethiopia.

Advocate Yohana Lerman represented the appellant on behalf of the Hotline for Migrant Workers.

Since I started writing this newsletter I keep receiving support email and phone calls from you. I and the HMW team would like to thank you for your support and for taking part in our struggle to build a more just, equitable and democratic Israel.

Shabat Shalom,

Reut Michaeli
Executive Director

Read more:
Threats made against south Tel Aviv aid workers after Yishai remarks.