Humanity is not dead, after all. Thwarting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 'barbaric' plan to deport tens of thousands of migrants from Sudan and Eritrea to Rwanda in March, <a href="https://972mag.com/i-wont-fly-refugees-to-their-deaths-the-el-al-pilots-resisting-deportation/132582/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a number of pilots from Israel’s flag carrier El Al have refused to fly African asylum seekers</a> and refugees to war-stricken countries to what many activists deem a death sentence and an immoral deportation.
“I have joined many of my good friends, in declaring that <a href="https://www.facebook.com/iddo.elad/posts/1984196591608473">I will not fly refugees to their deaths</a>. I won’t take part in that barbarism,” El Al pilot Iddo Elad wrote on his Facebook page.
An online campaign was recently launched by Zizim Community Action, an Israeli non-government organization, calling on the Israel Aviation Association and the Israel Pilots Association to refuse to fly migrants to any dangerous African country.
Raluca Gena, CEO of Zizim Community Action, called on Israeli pilots to "stand on the right side of history":
<em>“Throughout the world, citizens are fighting cruel expulsion decrees and stand alongside refugees and asylum-seekers. <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Activists-ask-Israeli-pilots-to-refuse-to-fly-refugees-to-their-deaths-533552" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This is a test for the Israeli public</a> to determine the fate of tens of thousands of people. In recent months, pilots in Germany and the UK have managed to stop more than 200 deportations, and we call on Israeli pilots to follow their European counterparts and stand on the right side of history.”</em>
Netanyahu’s government is forcing an estimated 38,000 Eritreans and Sudanese asylum seekers to <a href="https://www.rt.com/news/416786-israeli-pilots-deportations-africa/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accept deportation or face indefinite imprisonment</a>.
“Out of all people we, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/yoel.piterbarg/posts/10211390493461970" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Jews, must be attentive, empathetic, moral, and leaders of public opinion in the world</a> in how we treat the migration of refugees, who have suffered and continue to suffer in their countries of origin,” Captain Yoel Piterbarg wrote on his Facebook page.
In another Facebook post, El Al pilot Shaul Betzer wrote:
<em>“There is no way that as pat of the flight crew, I will take part in flying refugees/asylum seekers on their way to a destination, in which their chance of survival after arrival (“a third country”) is close to zero. </em><em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/shaul.betzer/posts/854778868029526" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Not much courage is required for such a mission</a>, but I will not be able to do what is required of me in such a mission. As a pilot and as a human being.”</em>
Though Zizim Community Action asserts Israeli pilots’ stand against barbarism would make a huge difference, the move is mostly symbolic, according to RT, as El Al does not fly directly to Rwanda or Uganda, and deported migrants usually fly on other airlines through Ethiopia or Jordan.
Nevertheless, the stark deportation or incarceration policy has sparked outrage among human rights groups, holocaust survivors, academics and rabbis. The Times of Israel quoted 73-year-old Veronika Cohen, a survivor from Budapest, as saying:
<em>“I always asked myself what I would have done if, during the Holocaust, I was on the other side — would I have been strong enough to do what the Righteous Among the Nations did? I don’t know if I would have been able to risk the lives of my children, but here <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/holocaust-survivors-say-theyll-harbor-asylum-seekers-to-stymie-deportations/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">they aren’t asking us to risk our lives</a>. I feel that to do this is my humanitarian duty.”</em>
According to Haaretz, Israel has agreed to pay Rwanda and Uganda a sum of $5,000 for every African asylum seeker they take in from Israel. Israel has also offered $3,500 and a free plane ticket to each asylum seeker who agrees to return home.
The UN has called on Israel to stop forcing African migrants out of the country, condemning it as incoherent and unsafe. But Israel refuses to mend ways, claiming that the <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/israel-deport-african-refugees-asylum-seekers-pilots-787407" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Africans are "infiltrators" and "economic migrants"</a>, not asylum seekers fleeing famine and civil war in their home countries.