The Unchosen: The Lives of Israel’s New Others

289 Pages·2017·7.804 MB·English

by  Mya Guarnieri Jaradat

The Unchosen

The Unchosen
The Lives of Israel’s New Others
Mya Guarnieri Jaradat
First published 2017 by Pluto Press
345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA
www.plutobooks.com
Copyright © Mya Guarnieri Jaradat 2017
The right of Mya Guarnieri Jaradat to be identified as the author of this
work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7453 3649 7 Hardback
ISBN 978 0 7453 3644 2 Paperback
ISBN 978 1 7868 0031 2 PDF eBook
ISBN 978 1 7868 0033 6 Kindle eBook
ISBN 978 1 7868 0032 9 EPUB eBook
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully
managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing
processes are expected to conform to the environmental standards of the
country of origin.
Typeset by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton, England
Simultaneously printed in the United Kingdom and United States of America
This book is dedicated to the world’s migrants: to the asylum
seekers seeking freedom from oppression and war and the
workers struggling to provide for their children and families.

Contents
List of Figures viii
Acknowledgements x
1. Black Market Kindergartens 1
2. The New Others: Migrant Workers 29
3. The Second Wave: A “Flood” of African Asylum
Seekers 47
4. “Our Boss Took His Dogs to the Bomb Shelters
But Left Us in the Fields”: Thai Workers Doing
“Hebrew Work” 67
5. “Clean And Tidy”: Foreigners in Israel after
Operation Cast Lead 88
6. Black City: The “Infiltrators” 128
7. Jewish Girls for the Jewish People: The Knesset and
the High Court 180
8. The Only Darfuri Refugee in Israel 199
Postscript 254
Notes 256
Index 270
Figures
1.1 A Filipino migrant worker cries after immigration
police raided an apartment that doubles as a black
market daycare. (Photo: Activestills) 5
1.2 Felicia A. Koranteng stands in her black market
kindergarten in south Tel Aviv. Koranteng claims to
have opened the first daycare for migrant workers’
children. (Photo: Mya Guarnieri Jaradat) 15
2.1 Filipino worshippers during a service at an unmarked
church in south Tel Aviv. (Photo: Mya Guarnieri
Jaradat) 36
2.2 Immigration police check migrant workers’ papers
in south Tel Aviv. (Photo: Activestills) 41
3.1 Homeless asylum seekers sleep in the shade of a
palm tree in Levinsky Park in south Tel Aviv.
(Photo: Mya Guarnieri Jaradat) 60
3.2 An empty bed at the shelter that had been raided
the previous night. (Photo: Mya Guarnieri Jaradat) 62
3.3 An Eritrean asylum seeker takes food donated
by Fugee Fridays. (Photo: Mya Guarnieri Jaradat) 64
4.1 Thai workers laboring on a farm on the Israeli side
of the Gaza border during the 2014 war with Hamas.
(Photo: Activestills) 75
4.2 A Thai worker prepares lunch in a kitchen on
the moshav. (Photo: Mya Guarnieri Jaradat) 84
5.1 An Israeli protester holds a sign that reads,
“Deport Eli Yishai.” (Photo: Mya Guarnieri Jaradat) 107
figures ix
5.2 Rotem Ilan and Michelle Trinanis in an
anti-deportation poster. The caption reads: “Rotem
won’t let them deport Michelle Israeli citizens
stopping the deportation.” (Photo: Mya Guarnieri
Jaradat) 109
5.3 Immigration police put a worker in a van.
(Photo: Activestills) 113
5.4 A Filipino boy holds a poster that reads: “Don’t
deport me!” (Photo: Mya Guarnieri Jaradat) 119
6.1 A child of asylum seekers looks at protesters in
south Tel Aviv who hold signs calling for the
immediate return of “200,000 illegal infiltrators”
to their home countries. (Photo: Activestills) 139
6.2 A South Sudanese man facing deportation shows
me the papers he received from the UNHCR in
Cairo where he registered as a refugee.
(Photo: Mya Guarnieri Jaradat) 175
6.3 Abraham Alu sits outside of the apartment he
shared with other asylum seekers from south Sudan;
this photo was taken days before he was deported
from Israel. (Photo: Mya Guarnieri Jaradat) 178
7.1 Israeli immigration police arrest a mother and her
child and take them to be deported.
(Photo: Activestills) 189
8.1 African asylum seekers’ March for Freedom.
(Photo: Activestills) 206
8.2 Afwerki Teame shows his ID outside of Holot.
(Photo: Mya Guarnieri Jaradat) 227
8.3 Eritrean mourners at the memorial in Levinksy
Park marking the death of Habtom Zarhum.
(Photo: Mya Guarnieri Jaradat) 241