Welcome to the Empire Files podcast. This is Abby Martin. This is the audio version of each episode of the Empire Files hosted on Telesaur English. You can watch every episode at the Empire Files. TV.

Human rights organizations and activists are fighting a battle to expose Israel's oppression of Palestinians. There's another group in the

country that's also attacked and imprisoned, those of African descent. A major rationale given for

the existence of Israel is that it serves as a refuge for those who face the horrors of the Holocaust,

part of making sure the words never again hold true. So it might come

as a surprise to some that Israel is building prison camps for and legislating laws against people

fleeing genocide today. When European countries tighten restrictions on refugees, it became

increasingly difficult for asylum seekers to escape war and persecution. As camps filled up throughout the African continent, many started crossing the Sinai Desert into Israel.

Today there are about 45,000 African refugees inside Israel's borders,

less than 0.5% of its population.

But despite their minuscule size relative to the population, they're treated as a

national crisis in Israeli society. The couped member of parliament, Mary Regev, stated from the stage

of an anti-refugee rally, the Sudanese are a cancer in our body. Interior Minister, Eliyishai,

claimed that African refugees were raping many Israeli women,

who do not complain because they don't want people to know they were also given aides.

He also stated, Israel belongs to the white man.

An Israeli police station in Tel Aviv also officially honored May Golan,

a leader of anti-African campaigns that encourage violent attacks.

And this incitement does indeed work.

Just in November 2016, an innocent Sudanese man was beaten to death while walking home from work.

The racism runs so deep, babies are even attacked.

One man tried to murder a one-year-old baby girl from Eritrea by stabbing her in the head.

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