Migrants In Israel Research Articles

“Always they look at you as a stranger”: affective encounters with the border among irregularised African migrants in Israel

ABSTRACT From 2005-2013, migrants travelled through Egypt’s Sinai Desert to cross into Israel in search of asylum. The first were Sudanese people escaping conflict in Darfur, with Eritreans arriving subsequently. With no established legal framework for processing asylum claims, Israel’s government prevented these migrants from making formal asylum applications, granting temporary collective protection, and began to use language of infiltration and policies of detention and deportation. In response, irregularised Africans organized a protest movement, claiming the right to a fair asylum process, the contours of which illustrated the complex entanglements of collective affects that were central to making a new political subject. The article asks how experiences of Israel’s border regime disclosed a particular world, how the border was felt in affective encounters and relations through which migrants were hailed as infiltrators. The violence of bordering led to despair, stuckness, and dissipating hopes, but migrants’ shared suffering also produced inter-connection and solidarity in ways that reflected the valuing of established identities as well as being together in difference. Positive and negative affects coexisted, the latter leading not to political inaction but demonstrating the generative potential of loss when it shapes shared affective spaces and expressions of collectivity.

The impact of liminal legal status on labor market experiences: a comparative study of Sudanese asylum seekers and refugees in Israel

ABSTRACT This article examines the labor market experiences of Sudanese forced migrants in Israel under prolonged temporary legal status. It underscores how regulatory and legal frameworks, particularly the mechanism of institutional ambiguity as a form of legal violence, shape migrants’ socioeconomic outcomes. Employing a mixed-methods approach and comparative analysis, the study adopts Menjívar’s, C. (2006. “Liminal legality: Salvadoran and Guatemalan immigrants’ lives in the United States.” American Journal of Sociology 111 (4): 999–1037) concept of ‘liminal legality’ as an analytical lens to compare the experiences of asylum seekers and refugees. The findings reveal significant disparities between these two groups in employment patterns, wages, and exposure to exploitative working conditions, primarily driven by differences in legal status . Asylum seekers are disproportionately relegated to unskilled, precarious jobs at the bottom of the employment ladder, facing heightened vulnerability to exploitative working conditions. Refugees, despite their relatively ‘premium’ status, also encounter significant constraints in labor market participation, reflecting their confinement to the secondary labor market. By highlighting these disparities, this article advances our knowledge of how positions along the continuum of liminal legality shapes employment outcomes among forced migrants. It also contributes to the broader discourse on socio-political and legal barriers that hinder migrant integration.

The course of love in the migration process: Germans in Israel, and Israelis in Germany

Love, to a significant other, can be the motivation for migration, inform a migration trajectory, or provide reasons for remaining in situ. Even so, love remains in the undercurrents of migration research. It is not explicitly addressed, even though it underpins migration within the constellation of arranged marriage, or if the pursuit of love is limited by social structures, or law. This paper links the dynamics of agentic love and self-initiated migration by way of German (non-Jewish) and Israeli (Jewish) migrants in Israel and Germany, respectively. It highlights individual trajectories of love migrants, establishing that love within the area of migration studies needs to be conceptualised as multifaceted and complex, at times contradictory, and as part of an affective trajectory of the migration process; and that the ability to follow up on falling in love, and to actualise love, cannot be unhinged from privilege.

1883. Features and Outcomes of Tuberculosis in Documented versus Undocumented Migrants in Israel

Abstract Background In countries with low tuberculosis (TB) incidence, most TB cases are observed in foreign-born individuals, including permanent immigrants, and undocumented migrants. There is limited information regarding the differences within these groups. In Israel, where TB prevalence is < 2 cases/100,000 persons, 85% of TB cases occur in foreign-born people. We examined risk factors, clinical course, and outcomes between documented and undocumented immigrants hospitalized with active TB. Methods A retrospective analysis of medical records from foreign-born active TB patients admitted to a 700-bed hospital in the center of Israel between January 1st, 2019, to March 31st, 2023. We included patients who initiated TB treatment during hospitalization and were discharged by April 2023. Undocumented migrants were defined as non-Israeli citizens without medical insurance. We summarized their clinical characteristics, course, and outcomes. Results 48 patients were included, 21 (43.8%) were undocumented migrants. Undocumented migrants were younger (mean age 40.9 vs. 53.0 years, P< 0.001) and predominantly arrived from Africa (95.2% vs. 29.6%, P< 0.001). The prevalence of HIV was similar between both groups. Presenting symptoms, duration of symptoms before admission, rates of bilateral and cavitary pulmonary disease, and extrapulmonary disease were comparable. Multi-drug resistant TB was rare (0% vs. 11.5%, P=0.242). Among patients with positive sputum smears and follow-up, undocumented migrants experienced a longer time to achieve negative sputum cultures (76.0 days vs. 36.8 days, P=0.004), and hospitalizations lasting over 30 days were also more common among undocumented migrants (71.4% vs. 40.7%, P=0.045). Multivariate analysis identified undocumented migrant status, thrombocytosis, and bilateral and cavitary pulmonary disease as risk factors for prolonged hospitalization. Conclusion Although the clinical features of TB were similar between documented and undocumented migrants, the response to treatment was slower, and hospital stays were longer among undocumented migrants. This may be due to undocumented migrants presenting with more advanced disease or lack of suitable conditions for isolation and treatment at home. Disclosures Yasmin Maor, MD, Astra Zeneca: Advisor/Consultant|Astra Zeneca: Honoraria|Gilead: Honoraria|GSK: Honoraria|kamada: Honoraria|Medison: Honoraria|MSD: Advisor/Consultant|MSD: Honoraria|Pfizer: Grant/Research Support|Pfizer: Honoraria

Orientalization, or sidewards assimilation of second-generation Russian-speaking migrants in Israel’s urban periphery

ABSTRACT This article explores the assimilation of second-generation migrants from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) who grew up in Israel’s social and geographic urban periphery. Their upbringing in peripheral towns and neighborhoods exposed them almost exclusively to Mizrahim (Oriental Jews), a stigmatized minority group whose members make up the overwhelming majority in those locations. We argue that their interaction with members of this group resulted in an alternative process of assimilation, which we term Hitmazrehut (Orientalization). Children of migrants, who were unaware of the historical stigmatization of Mizrahim and their culture, conceived of Hitmazrehut as their only viable trajectory of assimilation into what they erroneously perceived as the Israeli mainstream. However, embracing Mizrahi socio-cultural practices, including consumption and production of ethnic culture, religious traditions and romantic partnerships, did not lead to their downward assimilation, as the model predicts. Rather, it allowed second-generation Russian-speaking migrants to fit in and attain social and economic mobility by assimilating sidewards, into the growing Mizrahi middle-class.

Criminalization of Asylum Seekers in Israel: Toward an Agentic Research Perspective that Opposes Othering and Estrangement.

At the start of the millennium, asylum seekers (ASs) from Eritrea and South Sudan began arriving in Israel as a consequence of armed conflicts in their countries. In their first months of stay, their civil status was not regulated. Later on, the state regulated it based on the Prevention of Infiltration Law (1954), originally designed to prevent Palestinian-Arab refugees from returning to the country. The African ASs represent less than one-third of the undocumented immigrants in Israel but their skin color highlights their alienness thus they are prone to both official and unofficial criminalization. This paper deals with state violence directed at the African ASs through practices of criminalization and othering as applied by Israeli politics and the justice system towards undocumented African migrants in Israel as dangerous and undesirable others. The discussion presents implications for an agentic human rights action-based model for further inquiry and practice that resists othering.

The impact of Israel's Sub-Saharan Relations on African Migrants in Israel

The impact of Israel's Sub-Saharan Relations on African Migrants in Israel

‘Becoming Black’

Abstract Little is known about racial identity claims of African migrants living in Israel who originate from countries where race is not a dominant identity marker. This article examines how Eritrean migrants, coming from a country where race-based social organisation is not prevalent, strategically adopted ‘Black’ as their identity marker in Israel. Online newspaper reports and conversational interviews with four Eritrean migrants were used as sources of data. During various anti-deportation protests, Eritrean migrants held signs with slogans referring to themselves as Black. Some of the slogans include: ‘Do Black lives matter in Israel?’, ‘Black or White I am human’, ‘Deported to death because I am Black’, and ‘Now I am White, will you deport me?’ I argue that for first generation Eritrean migrants in Israel, Black racial identity was adopted strategically as a political identity of social mobilisation and resistance in the face of a racialised and exclusionary migration policy.

The implications of migration policies on migrant worker mixed families: The case of Filipinos in Israel

The ever-growing worldwide phenomenon of transnational labor migration has resulted in the increase of families formed by migrant workers in destination countries. While scholarly attention has mainly focused on the transnational families of migrant workers, the formation of mixed families involving migrants in host countries has rarely been studied. Based on a qualitative and quantitative study of the Filipino migrant worker community in Israel, this paper explores the dynamics of mixed families within this community. The family formation of Filipino migrants in Israel reveals two main categories of mixed families: one consisting of a migrant worker and a local citizen, and the other consisting of two migrant workers of different origins. I proposed the terminologies “suspect mixed families” and “fragile mixed families” to emphasize the crucial impact of migration policies on the dynamics of these families.

Health literacy, resilience and perceived stress of migrants in Israel during the COVID-19 pandemic

Objective To examine perceived stress in migrants guided by Bornstein’s Specificity Principle in Acculturation Science (BSPAS) theoretical framework. Design Using a cross-sectional study, we recruited English-language migrants (n = 411) living in Israel to respond to an online questionnaire during the COVID-19 pandemic, from 3 April to 16 May 2020. Main Outcome Measures The dependent variable comprised the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) scores, which attained an internal consistency of 0.91 in this sample. Results PSS scores were related to lower age (p < 0.0001), being single (p = 0.0095), not possessing high (p = 0.0069) or medium resilience (p = 0.0002), reporting below average SES (p = 0.0196), being “extremely” worried about getting COVID-19 (p < 0.0001), and having high health literacy (p = 0.0007). Additionally, the interaction between health literacy and resilience (p < 0.0001) showed that migrants with high resilience and high health literacy had the lowest perceived stress; and migrants with low resilience and high health literacy had the highest perceived stress. Conclusions Interventions are needed to assist migrants during the COVID-19 pandemic. The optimal intervention will aim to address the psychological distress while increasing both health literacy and resilience.

Ethnic Majority Attitudes toward Jewish and Non-Jewish Migrants in Israel: The Role of Perceptions of Threat, Collective Vulnerability, and Human Values

We investigate whether the attitudes of the Israeli majority toward migrants reflect the double standard embedded in Israel’s immigration regime, differentiating Jewish from non-Jewish migrants. We compare attitudes toward ethnic migrants (Jews), non-ethnic migrants (non-Jews), and asylum seekers, considering three explanations: values, collective vulnerability, and perceived threat. Our findings show that perceived vulnerability increases threat due to immigration. Values play an important role in predicting opposition to both Jewish and non-ethnic immigrants. Perceptions of threat are more relevant for the explanation of opposition to non-ethnic immigrants than to that of Jewish immigrants. We discuss our findings in light of existing theories.

Ethnic Majority Attitudes toward Jewish and Non-Jewish Migrants in Israel: The Role of Perceptions of Threat, Collective Vulnerability, and Human Values

We investigate whether the attitudes of the Israeli majority toward migrants reflect the double standard embedded in Israel’s immigration regime, differentiating Jewish from non-Jewish migrants. We compare attitudes toward ethnic migrants (Jews), non-ethnic migrants (non-Jews), and asylum seekers, considering three explanations: values, collective vulnerability, and perceived threat. Our findings show that perceived vulnerability increases threat due to immigration. Values play an important role in predicting opposition to both Jewish and non-ethnic immigrants. Perceptions of threat are more relevant for the explanation of opposition to non-ethnic immigrants than to that of Jewish immigrants. We discuss our findings in light of existing theories.

What It Means to (Mis)Trust: Forced Migration, Ontological (In)Security, and the Unrecognized Political Psychology of the Israeli‐Lebanese Conflict

What does it mean to search for trust—the constitutive element of feeling ontologically secure—in the context of protracted conflict, trauma, and forced migration? This article addresses this key question in ontological security (OS) studies in International Relations (IR) by analyzing an unrecognized consequence of the Israeli‐Lebanese conflict: a Lebanese community of forced migrants created overnight on Israeli premises due to Israel's unilateral withdrawal from South Lebanon in 2000. Relying on 60 in‐depth interviews with Lebanese migrants in Israel, the article demonstrates how forced migrants engage in various OS‐seeking strategies in relentless efforts to reconstitute trust. These strategies range from self‐justification and securitizing identity through religious and communal practices, to a search for recognition from statist institutions and boundary‐work vis‐à‐vis “sibling” disempowered “others” in the host state. However, the article shows how under political circumstances of protracted conflict and repeated perceived betrayal by the state, forced migrants are unable to reconstitute the routinized relations of trust on which OS is based. By exposing the particularistic, dynamic, and highly political character of the migrants' quest for trust, the article sheds new light on the political psychology of an “old” conflict and on the multiple meanings of ontological (in)security in migration.

Unauthorized migrants in Israel: The contribution of threat variables and personal and community resources to the perception of social distance toward migrants from Africa.

To examine the contribution of background variables, threat variables, and personal and community resources to participants' perceived social distance toward unauthorized migrants.Study participants were 168 Israeli citizens/longtime residents of three disadvantaged neighborhoods in Israel, who filled out self-report questionnaires. We applied a hierarchical regression model and also examined the direct and indirect contribution of the abovementioned variables to the social distance of these longtime residents toward unauthorized migrants in Israel.All participants reported high levels of social distance, irrespective of their physical proximity to the migrants. Cultural disparity was perceived as a major threat. Residents who lived in close proximity to migrants particularly expressed concern about harm to their economic well-being. Although political preference had no statistically significant direct effect on social distance, the mediation analysis revealed a complete indirect mechanism of the effect of political preference on social distance through threat perceptions.The research broadened our understanding of longtime neighborhood residents' perceived social distance toward migrants.It migrants. It also contributes to the development of knowledge, which will form the basis for intervention programs in the community.

Tuberculosis treatment outcomes of non-citizen migrants: Israel compared to other high-income countries

Background: In TB low incidence countries, the outcome of TB treatment among non-citizen migrants from endemic countries affects ability to eliminate TB. This study compares TB treatment outcomes among non-citizen migrants in select pre-elimination country based on their policies for non-citizen migrant TB patients in order to determine how policy affects TB outcomes.MethodsA literature review was conducted via PUBMED, MEDLINE (2000–2017) on TB policy among non-citizen migrants and treatment outcome. Treatment outcome among migrants diagnosed in Israel during 2000–2014 was analysed.ResultsIn total, 18 publications met the inclusion criteria. All the countries reviewed except the United States offered free TB treatment to undocumented migrants. Successful TB treatment outcome for non-citizen migrants in Israel was 87%, the Netherlands was 90.7%, the UK was 82.1%, and outcomes in the US and Australia were not published.ConclusionsThere is a need to standardize results based on international definitions of migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees in order to determine status-specific barriers and to facilitate international comparisons. Policies insuring free access to TB care for non-citizen migrants are an important element for TB elimination in low incidence countries.

Thinking about the meaning of time among temporary labor migrants in Israel

When thinking about time and migration, time appears to be the obvious unchangeable independent variable—linear, uniform, and constant—affecting migrants’ experiences. However, what if we reimagine time as a dependent variable affected by migration? Time, thus, is not linear but layered, malleable, and potentially even liquid. Migrants weave time with space, generating past, present, and future, forming multiple simultaneous “heres,” “theres,” and “in-betweens.” A subset of migrants, temporary labor migrants, provides an interesting opportunity to consider how migration affects time (including the perception of time). States permit temporary labor migrants to immigrate only because they consent to emigrate after a predetermined, contracted period. In this paper, we consider what it means to enter into such “migration time” arrangements that warp, transform, and curtail time for migrants, their children, employers, community members, left-behind families, and the state. Migrants’ children who typically exist outside state-brokered labor migration deals develop alternate timescapes from their migrant parents. Based on the analysis of interview data and complementary follow-up conversations with 43 temporary labor migrants in Israel from 11 different countries, we examine how the migration process creates nonlinear time and how migrants discover, lament, manage, enjoy, and struggle with multiple timescapes. Building on the work of Saulo Cwerner, we replicate his model on time and migration to show general patterns for immigrants and modes particular to temporary labor migrants including time ruptures, freedom time (short-term opportunities), and ambiguous time (fuzzy continuities).

Rethinking voice and silence

ABSTRACTIsraeli society is complex, multifaceted, heterogeneous, pluralistic, hectic and loud. Yet, as this volume claims, within this cacophonic arena, islands of silence and pockets of voicelessness remain. Obviously, not all of these could be addressed in this volume, leaving some unexplored: the voices of those suffering from terminal illness, of elders subjected to ageism, of the fat and the disabled, of the LGBT community and of non-Jewish migrants in Israel, to mention but a few that are not commonly heard. This article offers some insights into these unrevealed realities, mainly of those ‘seethrough’ sectors such as labour migrants (usually called foreign workers) and asylum seekers.

Ensuring HIV care to undocumented migrants in Israel: a public-private partnership case study

BackgroundUndocumented migrants in Israel, mostly originating from HIV endemic countries, are not covered by Israel’s universal healthcare coverage. We initiated a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) to handle this public health and humanitarian challenge. The PPP venture included the Ministry of Health (MoH), pharmaceutical companies, pharmacies, and specialized HIV clinics, the Israeli HIV Medical Society (from the Israel Medical Association), and non-governmental organizations. This study describes the national policy process in conceptualizing and implementing access to HIV services for undocumented migrants through a PPP, and analyzes the preliminary results.MethodsThis case study describes the process of creating a temporary Public-Private Partnership to provide HIV care for undocumented migrants based on institutional records of the Department of Tuberculosis and AIDS (DTA) and memories and reflections from partners.This case was analyzed according to the OECD-DAC criteria for development assistance (relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and impact). Demographic and serological data of patients referred between 2014 to 2018 were collected to monitor progress. and analyze preliminary medical and biological outcomes. Ethical approval was obtained from the Ministry of Health.ResultsCreating a policy to extend HIV care to undocumented migrants was a 15 year process that confronted several challenges within Israeli and international discourse, particularly concerning governmental response to the migration crisis. The use of a PPP model involving numerous stakeholders provided a solid, local feasibility demonstration that extending HIV care as a matter of policy would have positive implications for public health in Israel. During the first 2 years of the program (2014–2015), the MoH funded medical follow-up and the pharmaceutical companies provided antiretroviral treatment (ART) free of charge for only 100 patients at any given time, in addition to ART provided by the MoH for pregnant women. Since 2016, the MoH has fully covered this service and integrated it within the Israeli health system; this constitutes the major success of the PPP program. As of December 2018, the national program has monitored 350 patients and treated 316 (90.3%). The most prevalent disease present upon referral was Tuberculosis.ConclusionsTo our knowledge, this study documents the first example of a successful PPP with government partnership in a high-income country to address undocumented migrants’ lack of access to health services in general and HIV care in particular. In light of the intensification of North-South migration, this Israeli case study could be useful for other countries facing similar challenges. It also has lessons within Israel, as the country grapples with other health problems among uninsured communities.

Life on the margins: the experiences of sexual violence and exploitation among Eritrean asylum-seeking women in Israel

BackgroundEritrean migrants in Israel, the majority of whom are seeking asylum, have limited access to institutional support. While the temporary group protection granted to Eritreans by Israel ensures that they are not deported, it does not confer permanent legal status, nor does it allow access to the formal work sector. This study qualitatively explores how political and economic marginalization increases the risk of sexual and other forms of violence as well as the exploitation of Eritrean women asylum seekers living in Israel.MethodsTwenty-five interviews with key informants, twelve individual interviews (six with men and six with women), and eight focus group discussions (four with men and four with women) were conducted among Eritreans of reproductive age in Tel Aviv, Israel. Qualitative data analysis was conducted using open, focused, and axial coding.ResultsParticipants reported that Israel’s restrictive immigration policies laid the foundation for the political and economic marginalization of asylum seekers. This manifested in limited access to institutional support during and after arrival, and hindered access to formal employment and its associated protections. The Israeli government’s decision to grant provisional status with a stipulation banning Eritreans from the formal work sector was perceived to create direct and indirect conditions for a heightened sense of structural vulnerability, particularly for women. Participants reported that this structural vulnerability increased the risk of sexual and domestic violence in addition to the risk for the exploitation of women asylum seekers.ConclusionsIsrael’s immigration policies may contribute to women asylum seekers’ vulnerability to sexual violence upon arrival in their host country. These policies shape the social realities of women asylum seekers, potentially increasing their risk of violence and exploitation during their time in Israel. This study provides an example of the effects of political and economic marginalization on violence against women, a concept that may apply to other settings globally.

Being seen: visibility, families and dynamic remittance practices

This paper seeks to respond to the limited discussion about why remittances cease, by exploring the dynamic meaning of remittances to senders. We interviewed 43 labor migrants in Israel about remittance practices. We discovered that many migrants no longer regularly remit, and those who do remit changed their initial pattern for remitting, often for reasons independent of a left behind family’s financial need or a sender’s financial ability to send. Remittances help migrants manage the stress from labor migration by providing identity benefits. Labor migrants often describe themselves as ‘invisible’ to both left-behind families and people in the receiving country. Remittances can render migrants visible by generating new roles in the family and generating a positive self-image when experiencing downward mobility due to dirty, dangerous and dull work. If migrants form new families, their need to remit declines. If familial roles changes, value as a remitter declines, costs exceed benefits or because contracting partners change, remittance practices may change or cease. We show how social relations shape this visibility and new family contracts affect remittances practices. The findings have implications for understanding the multibillion-dollar remittances industry, immigrant incorporation, and transnational family relationships.