‘African Exodus’ Film Examines Debate Over Migrants In Israel

African migrants leave the Holot detention center in the Negev Desert, southern Israel, Tuesday, March 13, 2018. The Israeli government has given the migrants until April 1 to leave the country for an unnamed African destination in exchange for $3,500 and a plane ticket, or they will be incarcerated indefinitely.
African migrants leave the Holot detention center in the Negev Desert, southern Israel, Tuesday, March 13, 2018. The Israeli government has given the migrants until April 1 to leave the country for an unnamed African destination in exchange for $3,500 and a plane ticket, or they will be incarcerated indefinitely. AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner
African migrants leave the Holot detention center in the Negev Desert, southern Israel, Tuesday, March 13, 2018. The Israeli government has given the migrants until April 1 to leave the country for an unnamed African destination in exchange for $3,500 and a plane ticket, or they will be incarcerated indefinitely.
African migrants leave the Holot detention center in the Negev Desert, southern Israel, Tuesday, March 13, 2018. The Israeli government has given the migrants until April 1 to leave the country for an unnamed African destination in exchange for $3,500 and a plane ticket, or they will be incarcerated indefinitely. AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner

‘African Exodus’ Film Examines Debate Over Migrants In Israel

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In January, the Israeli government ordered the deportation of several thousand East African asylum seekers. Despite helping write the 1951 Refugee Convention, Israel is not processing claims from asylum seekers fleeing violence in place like Rwanda and Eritrea.

Filmmaker Brad Rothschild followed several African migrants and documented the politics that caused their marginalization in Israel. His film, African Exodus, makes its Chicago premiere on March 28, 2018 at 7 p.m. at the AMC River East theater. He’s joined by Tamar Manasseh, a rabbinical student and founder of Mothers Against Senseless Killings in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood. Both will discuss what they view as xenophobic and racist migrant policy in the U.S. and Israel.