Berkowitz, who recived death threats
Anti-deportation activists threatened with harm, death
Ahead of Saturday's mass protest against the planned expulsion of African immigrants, rally organizers say they are receiving an alarming amount of hate mail and death threats.
Organizers of anti-deportation rallies against the planned mass expulsion of African asylum seekers have been receiving an increased amount messages wfilled with invective language and death threats on social media.
Anti-deportation activists, who already suffered in recent weeks from verbal abuse have now begun fearing for their well-being, with people expressing their desire to harm them in various ways and means, from maiming to decapitation.
Adi Berkowitz, an anti-deportation activist who recived death threats
It's a shame that they did not kill you instead of Esther Galili," said one, referring to a 70-year-old woman who provoked a drunk Sudanese immigrant and was subsequently beaten to death by him. "May an illegal immigrant dismember your corpse, you Ashkenazi whore," he ended.
Others were just as brutal, wishing on the activists violence and rape by the very asylum seekers they wish to aid.
"If I could I would get you into rubber boats with holes and throw you in the ocean without food and without water so you can eat each other until you die!!!", another said.
"The initial feeling is frightening," said Adi Berkowitz, an activist in the "Stop the Expulsion" movement who received some of the hate mail.
"There is a feeling that someone is entering your private space, that everyone can reach you. It feels very real and very close. I do not want to say that we got used to it because you can't really get used to it, but there is no doubt that after dozens of such messages it has become an integral part of this struggle."
Saturday's mass anti-expulsion rally (Photo: Motti Kimchi)
Berkowitz added that in the last few days, ahead of Saturday's planned mass rally, the tone of the messages she received has become more blunt and violent.
"I considered more than once to go to the police," she said. "The only reason I did not do it is because I know that everyone who writes these messages wants to frighten us and make us stop our struggle. So this is a good opportunity to tell them that we are not afraid and that this is not what will help them. We will continue until we stop the expulsion. "
Carmel, another activist, claimed the increasing vitriol is a sign their struggle is making headway.
"In the last week, apparently because the rally produces a lot of pressure (to stop the mass deportation—ed), there is an attack of insults and threats on many activists and on our Facebook page. The attack is not only on our private pages but also in the responses on other pages, and there is no doubt that their number and level of aggression is increasing.
"On the one hand it's obviously unpleasant, no one wants to get up in the morning and get bashed with all those curses and threats. It's not something that you can prepare for in advance, and it always catches you off guard, and it makes me really ask myself where this hatred comes from.
"On the other hand, there is no doubt that whoever does it does so out of anxiety and this is further proof that the public struggle that began with a few dozen people is sweeping the majority of the public."
Sheffi Paz, surrounded by policemen
Sheffi Paz, leader of the pro-expulsion South Tel Aviv Liberation Front, excused the Left of fueling "a civil war in south Tel Aviv," with every demonstration adding oil to the fire.
She warned that "none of us can stop this from boiling over as soon as the last hope is taken from us," stressing that "every sign and every petition and every demonstration they make is perceived in south Tel Aviv as direct incitement against the residents."
She noted her organization chose not to stage a counter protest on Saturday, as the mass rally is planned to be held in Rabin Square, and not in southern Tel Aviv, and continued by mocking the demonstrators' alleged naiveté on immigration.
"For all we care, they can come in droves from all over the country in hundreds of buses to flood the square with illegal immigrants, to hear music, to feel morally superior to all of us, and to return home," she said. "But don't leave empty-handed—take home a 'refugee.'"
