Black Africans in Israel
Dear Editor
I read your cover story on the terrible fate of black African asylum seekers in Israel (Israel not safe for African asylum seekers, July 2012) with a mixed feeling of anger and frustration. What is happening to black African asylum seekers in Israel is no different than what has continued to happen to millions of Palestinians who are left landless and stateless by the continued Israeli policy that has based its existence on committing the most absolute crime against humanity. The saddest part of this tragedy is that although the state of Israel has shown, time and again, its conceit to international laws, the world at large has maintained its status of being the partner in crime. This is a disgrace to the history of mankind.
Allan Griffin
Addis Ababa
Dear Editor
I would like to thank you for brining the plight of African asylum seekers in Israel to your likable magazine’s distinguished readers (Israel not safe for African asylum seekers, July 2012). Your story was a reminder of the shame and disgust the government in Israel continued to inflict upon itself by abusing black Africans including the so-called Ethiopian Israelis living in Israel. I need not reckon the story of the blood donated by Ethiopian Israelis in good faith of helping others but ended up unceremoniously spilled by Israeli doctors who claimed the blood was contaminated by HIV virus. Less than two decades later we have been labeled as the “cancer” of the Israeli society. Who knows the next thing black Africans will be to the ‘pure’ souls of Israelis?
Sertse Melake Dingil
Addis Ababa
Dear Editor
Your cover story on black African asylum seekers in Israel (Israel not safe for African asylum seekers, July 2012) lacks sincerity and depth. As an article written by a person with deep resentment to the Israeli government it would have been surprising if it tried to see the other side of the story. Israel is a small country with worryingly depleted natural resources, unemployment woes of its own citizens and living under the constant threat of Islamic fundamentalism practically from all the four corners of its territory. The last thing it wants to deal with is asylum seekers who are smuggled into Israel by international ring of human smugglers. These asylum seekers are posing a clear and imminent danger to the social fabric of the Jewish community who are struggling to maintain their identity in the face of a growing anti-Semitism throughout the world. It would have been a courageous thing to do if your writer goes deep into unraveling the hidden agendas of these human smugglers who are supported by enemies of the Jewish state to purposely displace African immigrants from their comfort zones only to dump them at the Gaza border crossings.
Anonymous
Addis Ababa
Dear Editor
After reading your cover story (Israel not safe for African asylum seekers, July 2012) I wonder why the government of Ethiopia continued collaborating with the racist government in Israel to send its citizens under the guise of Aliyah (immigration of the Jews people from the rest of the world to Israel). By now it should be clear to all involved that black Africans and Israel do not mix well.
Aderaw Bayu
Addis Ababa University
Development vs good governance
Dear Editor
I was very pleased while reading the article written by Dr Taye Nigusie, (How a developmental state ruins good governance, July 2012). Though the fact that the article enlightens somehow, it requires further elaboration. The supposed reading community needs to be clear on whether there exists a positive relationship between development and the state so as to make a coined phrase like “developmental state”. Are the coined words compatible? From earlier lessons, we have developed strong beliefs that development comes about via free thoughts of citizens; free thoughts could emanate just from free and independent minds. On the other hand, a state by definition is a “force” formed by a collective will of a society to protect the rights of individual citizens from any other intruding force(s), so that they could be productively engaged to bring about individual and collective development. It is really important to explore concepts like “good governance” first and relate them to the concept of ‘development’.
The practice of web-based debates between and among different scholars deserves serious attention of concerned Ethiopians.
Alula Kurabachew
Addis Ababa
