{"id":4776,"date":"2025-06-22T07:49:30","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T05:49:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/assaf.org.il\/?p=4776"},"modified":"2025-06-25T09:45:06","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T07:45:06","slug":"no-refuge-refugees-in-israel-amid-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/assaf.org.il\/en\/no-refuge-refugees-in-israel-amid-war\/","title":{"rendered":"No Refuge: Refugees in Israel Amid War"},"content":{"rendered":"

ASSAF with the Refugee Community<\/b>
\n<\/span>Refugees in Israel Amid War – the war with Iran<\/a><\/h3>\n

**<\/span><\/i> After these lines were written, on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, the President of the United States announced a ceasefire between Israel, the U.S., and Iran. Time will tell whether the ceasefire will hold and what its impact will be on the state of war that has persisted in Israel since October 7, 2023. **<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

The Iranian missile strike on June 13, 2025, marks a dangerous escalation in the ongoing war that began on October 7, 2023. This current escalation threatens regional stability and harms the entire population of Israel\u2014both citizens and refugees.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the refugee and asylum-seeking community that lives in Israel, the price is especially high: most have no access to protected shelters, critical information shared with the public is not available in their language, those whose homes were directly hit by missiles were left homeless, and those whose income was lost\u2014either because their workplace is inactive or because they must stay home with their children\u2014were left exposed, without employment, income, or support. Economic distress is worsening, and the shortage of food, medicine, and basic supplies is growing. Not only has the economic distress intensified but so has the mental distress: many asylum seekers have survived severe traumas\u2014torture camps, wars, and persecution. The current state of security reopens old wounds and leads to the mental health deterioration of many.<\/span><\/p>\n

Moreover, although asylum seekers live in Israel legally, some for more than two decades, and despite Israel\u2019s recognition that they cannot be returned to their countries of origin due to the danger to their lives, they are systematically excluded from all aid systems\u2014including national insurance, compensation for war damages, and assistance for evacuees. While we have witnessed <\/span>expressions of solidarity<\/span><\/a> from asylum seekers toward Israeli society since the war with Iran began, this solidarity is one-directional: being a refugee in Israel today means living entirely outside the social contract. Refugees aren\u2019t merely low on the priority list\u2014they\u2019ve been completely excluded from it.They are excluded from aid systems, erased from public discourse, and left exposed to missiles, trauma, and poverty\u2014without protection, recognition, or support.<\/span><\/p>\n

Israel is a country built by and for refugees. Many of us are descendants of people who fled wars, persecution, and exile. We know all too well what it means to be a stranger in a foreign land and to try to rebuild life. Our collective memory teaches us the price of indifference. As Jews and Israelis, our responsibility is not only historical but also moral and humane.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Status of Refugees and asylum seekers in Israel<\/b><\/p>\n

About 72,000 asylum seekers currently live legally in Israel. Approximately 60,000 of them are under \u201cgroup protection,\u201d following the state’s decision not to deport them to their countries of origin. Among them, about 23,000 are from Eritrea, 23,000 from Ukraine, 7,000 from Sudan, 8,000 from Ethiopia, and around 400 from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Most have submitted individual asylum applications (except for Ukrainians, whom the state does not permit to submit individual requests). Additionally, some 12,000 asylum seekers from other countries not eligible for group protection have filed individual asylum claims that have yet to be decided, and they are also protected from deportation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite being protected from deportation and residing in Israel legally, they are excluded from most welfare services, public health insurance, and any form of basic social safety net. Many live in deep poverty and constant instability. They are employed in low-wage, unstable jobs and struggle daily to meet even their most basic needs. Without recognition or rights, excluded from national support systems, they remain one of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged populations in the country.<\/span><\/p>\n