By Romana Rubeo  

Israel is offering African asylum seekers permanent residency in exchange for their participation in life-threatening military operations in Gaza, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz revealed on Sunday, citing personal accounts. 

“Defense officials, speaking off the record, say the project is conducted in an organized manner, with the guidance of defense establishment legal advisers,” the report said.

Haaretz noted how “the ethical considerations of recruiting asylum seekers have not been addressed”.

Additionally, “to date, no asylum seekers who contributed to the war effort have been granted official status.”

30,000 Asylum Seekers

According to Haaretz, “there are currently some 30,000 African asylum seekers living in Israel, most of them young men.”

The report cited the testimony of A. who arrived in Israel at the age of 16 and did not obtain a permanent status in Israel. 

“In one of the first months of the war, A. received a phone call from someone who claimed to be a police officer and who instructed him to report immediately to a security facility, without providing any explanation,” the report said.

“They told me they were looking for special people to join the army. They told me this was a life-or-death war for Israel,” A. is cited as saying by Haaretz.

‘Ceasefire Now’ – Israeli Generals Reveal Extent of Army Crisis in Gaza

This was “the first of what turned out to be a series of meetings” with a security official “who was recruiting asylum seekers for the army.”

A. was reportedly told that, if he agreed to join the army along with other asylum seekers, he could “receive documents from the State of Israel.”

Military sources mentioned in the report confirm A.’s version, saying that “the defense establishment has made use of asylum seekers in various operations”.

“Haaretz also learned that the Interior Ministry explored the possibility of drafting the children of asylum seekers, who were educated in Israeli schools, into the IDF,” the report concluded.

Crisis in the Army

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced last July that the Israeli army urgently needed 10,000 additional soldiers amid the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

“The army needs 10,000 more soldiers immediately,” Gallant stated, according to Army Radio, during a session of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on July 1.

Israeli Army Crisis – 10,000 Soldiers Needed as 900 Officers Consider Resigning amid Gaza War

He mentioned that the army could recruit 4,800 soldiers from ultra-Orthodox males.

This followed a landmark decision by the country’s Supreme Court, which unanimously ruled in June that ultra-Orthodox Jews must be included in the military draft.

(The Palestine Chronicle)

– Romana Rubeo is an Italian writer and the managing editor of The Palestine Chronicle. Her articles appeared in many online newspapers and academic journals. She holds a Master’s Degree in Foreign Languages and Literature and specializes in audio-visual and journalism translation.