Israeli army’s recruitment of African refugees a new low

Mahal is one of several recruitment agencies that aim to entice mercenaries from all around the world to fight in Israel’s dirty wars in Gaza and on other fronts. When one visits its website, a pop-up reminder, reading “Apply online,” keeps appearing. It is as if the repeated beep is a reminder of the state of emergency, if not outright panic, in the Israeli military.

As soon as the Israeli war on Gaza was launched last October, rumors began circulating of a low turnout among Israeli reservists. This was coupled with an unprecedented political crisis in Israel, with the military’s insistence that ultra-Orthodox Jews should serve. This topic was, until recently, largely taboo among Israeli politicians.

Even when the draft orders went out for 1,000 Haredim in July, only a small fraction of the summoned men answered the call, according to Israeli media.

The crisis is yet to be resolved and most likely will not be, even as the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu continues to expand the war fronts. To understand the degree of Israel’s military crisis, compare the statements of Israeli officials at the start of the war, when they promised total victory, to the latest statements.

Israeli recruiters have been quietly working to enlist as many African asylum seekers as possible

Dr. Ramzy Baroud

In July, for example, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said “the army needs 10,000 more soldiers immediately.” This number is particularly interesting when we consider the Israeli army’s revelation in August that at least 10,000 of its soldiers had been killed or injured since the start of the war.

The actual number of injured is likely to be much higher, based on media leaks and information provided by Israeli hospitals. Additionally, thousands of Israeli soldiers have been declared “disabled” due to psychological trauma suffered during the war, according to Israel’s Defense Ministry.

Thus the state of urgency in an army that, according to Brig. Gen. Yitzhak Brik, has become “small and weak, with no surplus of forces.”

So, where does Israel go from here? Instead of ending its war-turned-genocide in Gaza, Israel has decided to turn to the people who have been told they are the most unwanted element of Israeli society: African asylum seekers.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported last week that Israeli recruiters have been quietly working to enlist as many African refugees as possible. To entice them, recruiters are promising them permanent residency. However, according to Haaretz, not a single African soldier has yet received the coveted documents.

“Defense officials … say the project is conducted in an organized manner, with the guidance of defense establishment legal advisers,” the report said. It also confirmed that “the ethical considerations of recruiting asylum seekers have not been addressed.”

By “ethical considerations,” both Haaretz and the cited defense officials are not referring to the killing of unarmed Palestinian civilians in Gaza by poor, desperate refugees from Africa, but to the rights of the asylum seekers themselves.

Israel is known to mistreat not only African asylum seekers, but also its own Black population. This racism has manifested itself in the clearest ways against African asylum seekers, who number about 30,000.

Thousands of Africans have already been deported from the country, not to be repatriated to their original homes but to other African countries, where human rights violations are widespread.

In 2018, Amnesty International reported that the Israeli government was forcefully returning the refugees “to persecution or indefinite detention.” The group chastised Israel’s “ill-thought-out policies” and “reckless abandonment of responsibility.”

Expectedly, Israel’s mistreatment of its asylum seekers and refugees has received a muted response from Western governments and rights groups that often react strongly to reports of mass abuse or unlawful deportations of refugees anywhere else in the world. And, as is often the case, the failure to hold Israel accountable to international laws emboldens it to continue with its “ill-thought-out policies.”

Imagine the cruelty of using desperate refugees to kill other refugees in displacement camps across Gaza

Dr. Ramzy Baroud

Imagine the cruelty of using desperate refugees, who have no political or historical affiliations with the war in Palestine, to kill other refugees in displacement camps across Gaza.

In doing so, Israel has crossed every moral, ethical and legal boundary that governs state and army behavior during times of war. This, however, cannot mean that the international community is incapable of deterring these Israeli practices through concrete actions and direct sanctions.

Many countries throughout Africa have already raised their voices in solidarity with Gaza and the Palestinian people. The bond between Africa and Palestine should now be strengthened by Israel’s utter disregard not only for the lives of the Palestinians, but for those of Africans as well.

The African Union should take the lead on this issue by dissuading Africans from joining the Israeli military under any circumstances and pursuing the matter of Israel’s recruitment of African asylum seekers at the world’s highest legal institutions.

While the moral stance taken by many African countries regarding the Israeli genocide in Gaza deserves the utmost respect, it is also incumbent on African governments to take an equally strong stance so that Israel ceases its practice of using Africans to kill and be killed in Gaza.

• Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and author. He is editor of The Palestine Chronicle and nonresident senior research fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappe, is “Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak Out.” X: @RamzyBaroud