Sudanese immigrants in Lebanon try crossing border into Israel
In recent months, Sudanese refugees have been trying to enter Israel by slipping across the tense border with Lebanon.
“I entered [Israel] on Tuesday, along the border with Lebanon. … I was helped by someone named Abu Abdo. He is a smuggler, who told me where I could get in and took me halfway there. I walked the rest of the way on my own. When I got to the fence, I crossed it alone. I continued walking for another half hour, before someone saw me, brought me water, and called the army. … They called the Nahariya Police Department, which interrogated me at the immigration division. Then, at court, they gave me papers. … Once I was released, I walked to my brother in Tel Aviv. I traveled from Sudan to Syria, and from there, I went to Lebanon. I wasn’t tortured. I wasn’t hurt. I’m healthy.”
This story was told by Muhammad Abshar Abakar, a 25-year-old Sudanese refugee who was caught in January after crossing Israel’s northern border. Two weeks later, he was brought before the custody court in the Givon holding facility. Abakar said he worked as a dishwasher at a restaurant in Beirut. He said that after the eatery was shut down, he decided to sneak into Israel and find work at a restaurant in the north.
