Eritrean envoyto Israel calls for arrest of lynch mob: Israeli police have not arrested any of those involved in lynching of Eritrean who died of his wounds in Beersheba:Ali Younes, Al Jazeera, 20 Oct 2015

The Eritrean ambassador to Israel has called for a thorough investigation and subsequent arrest of those who shot and beat an Eritrean migrant who later died of his wounds in southern Israel.

Tesfamariam Tekeste told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that he asked the Israeli foreign ministry for a full investigation into the incident in the city of Beersheba after he was notified of it by the Eritrean community.

Haftom Zarhum, a 29-year-old Eritrean migrant, died in a Beersheba hospital on Sunday night after he, mistaken for an accomplice of a suspected attacker that killed an Israeli soldier, was shot by a security guard and kicked by bystanders.

A video published online following the incident showed the Eritrean being kicked by several people as he lay bleeding on the ground.

"I was very saddened when I heard the news." the Eritrean diplomat told Al Jazeera.

No arrests made

Israeli police have not yet made any arrests two days after the incident.

The private security guard who shot the unarmed Eritrean was questioned by the police and later released, Israeli police spokesperson Mickey Rosenfeld said.

“We have arrested no one at this point, but we are still looking for people for questioning over this incident," Rosenfeld told Al Jazeera.

Footage released online from the bus station clearly showed faces of some of those who participated in the lynching, which Al Jazeera’s reporter in Israel Elias Karram said, included two Israeli officers.

Moreover, an Israeli man, in an appearance on Israeli Channel Two on Monday evening, said that he had been one of those who kicked Zarhum.

It remains unclear if Israeli authorities questioned the Israeli man or took any action against him.

Footage from the station showed at least one Israeli soldier kicking Zarhum in the head as he lay bleeding on the floor of the terminal.

Another man lifted a bench and dropped it on Zarhum's head as another tried to protect him by placing a bar stool over his body.

'Victim of racism'

Amnesty International Israel said it was "appalled and in mourning" after learning of the murder, adding that "Zarhum was shot by an Israeli security officer, targeted simply because of the colour of his skin".

“He was a victim of racism and xenophobia who just happened to be at the scene of a terrorist attack,” the organisation said.

Asked whether the gruesome death of Zarhum showed racism within the Israel towards Africans, the Eritrean diplomat said that he could not generalise about Israeli society, but that "racism does exist in Israel."

Tekeste advised Eritrean citizens in Israel to exercise caution when they move around in the country.

He said there were about 20,000 Eritrean citizens working in Israel.

Tekeste said that once the police conclude their investigations, the embassy will repatriate the remains of Zarhum to his family who live in a remote village in the Eritrean countryside.

Asmara, Eritrea: a young man walks outside an abandoned building in central Asmara. On the roof is a poster of Eritrean fighters rising to the top of a hill, in honor those who fought in a 30-year struggle for independence from Ethiopia, which was achieved in 1993: photo by Matina Stevis/The Wall Street Journal, 20 October 2015 

 

Eritrean national killed in Israel "by mistake": Press Statement, Eritrea Ministry of Information, 19 October 2015

 

Several news agencies have reported today the fatal shooting of an Eritrean citizen by Israeli soldiers in the city of Be’er Sheva.The brutal beating and killing of the Eritrean citizen has been explained as a case of “mistaken identity”. And, condolences have been conveyed to the Eritrean Embassy by Israeli authorities. 

Clearly, this incident cannot hide but rather amplify the intensified violence that is being perpetrated against civilians.For the Eritrean people in particular, the tragic incident is a poignant reminder of the hidden and unreported repression routinely committed in Israel against tens of thousands of their compatriots.

The Eritrean national purportedly killed by mistake today is one of the many victims of global organized crime of human trafficking.These Eritreans have been whisked off, as it were, to Israel through illicit arrangements in the past years for political objectives and as a source of cheap, manual, labour.In the circumstances, the people and government of Eritrea express, once again, their utmost indignation at, and condemnation of, the reprehensible acts of human trafficking.

Ministry of Information
Asmara
19 October 2015

 

An Eritrean woman, left, and a man pray at dawn beside an Orthodox Church at Adi-Harush refugee camp in Ethiopia. The man, 25-year-old Shewit Hadera, arrived after an earlier attempt to flee Eritrea landed him in jail, where he says he was tortured. Eritrea’s information minister said, ‘Torture is not allowed; that does not mean it may not happen here and there.’ : photo by Nichole Sobecki for The Wall Street Journal, 20 October 2015

The killing of Eritrean migrant by Israeli mob has struck a nerve Eritrean Facebook is filled with anger #Eritrea: tweet by Filmon Zerai @EritreaStruggle, 19 October 2015

 

Eritrean women gather water at a community point in Adi-Harush Camp, one of the refugee camps in Ethiopia where people fleeing Eritrea stay, for months or sometimes years, before paying smugglers to take them to Europe: photo by Nichole Sobecki for The Wall Street Journal, 20 October 2015

Three young Eritreans enjoy the view from the escarpment outside the Eritrean capital of Asmara. The country on the Horn of Africa is a poor land with a secretive government that imposes open-ended military conscription on youths, and about 1 in 50 Eritreans sought asylum in Europe between 2012 and mid-2015, according to the European Union statistics agency Eurostat: photo by Matina Stevis/The Wall Street Journal, 20 October 2015

 

Eritreans abroad say they are pushed to leave by conscription that enlists every man and woman in the military during their last year of high school. Last week, 10 Eritrean soccer players who were in Botswana for a match defected there. Some Eritrean refugees fled to Israel through the Sinai Desert until Israel erected a fence there. This week, an Eritrean man was killed in Israel when attacked by a mob who mistook him for an assailant at an earlier bus-stop attack.

-- Thousands flee isolated Eritrea to escape life of conscription and poverty: Matina Stevis and Joe Parkinson: The Wall Street Journal, 20 October 2015

A billboard set up by Ethiopian authorities in Adi-Harush camp for Eritreans who have fled their country warned about human smugglers, saying, ‘Illegal movement is like walking blindfolded. Let’s stay alert.’ The refugees aren’t deterred.: photo by Nichole Sobecki for The Wall Street Journal, 20 October 2015

Malian Tuareg. Tuareg women enjoy equal rights to men, but their main role, as seen here, is looking after their family. When in the company of women, Tuareg men pull up their veils above the nose in a sign of respect: photo by Jean Marc Durou via the Guardian, 26 May 2015

My Dear One is mine as mirrors are lonely,
As the poor and sad are real to the good king,
And the high green hill sits always by the sea.

Up jumped the Black Man behind the elder tree,
Turned a somersault and ran away waving;
My Dear One is mine as mirrors are lonely.

The Witch gave a squawk; her venomous body
Melted into light as water leaves a spring,
And the high green hill sits always by the sea.

At his crossroads, too, the Ancient prayed for me;
Down his wasted cheeks tears of joy were running:
My Dear One is mine as mirrors are lonely.

He kissed me awake, and no one was sorry;
The sun shone on sails, eyes, pebbles, anything,
And the high green hill sits always by the sea.

 

So, to remember our changing garden, we
Are linked as children in a circle dancing:
My Dear One is mine as mirrors are lonely,
And the high green hill sits always by the sea.

 

The veil.The origin of the Tuareg’s trademark blue allichu veil is open to debate. In addition to giving protection from dust whipped up by desert winds, the veils are believed to prevent bad spirits from entering the body. The dye bleeds freely onto the skin, giving the wearer a blue-grey complexion: photo by Henrietta Butler via the Guardian, 26 May 2015

Have a beautiful evening Wasatinians ! #Tuareg #Libya: image via Alwasat @alwasatengnews, 3 December 2014

Outside Timbuktu: photo by Carsen ten Brink, 2 January 2015

Tuareg encapment, Mali: photo by Erik Cleves Kristensen, February 2003 (posted 8 October 2005)

Tuareg encapment (near Tombouctou, Mali): photo by Leslie Lewis, 27 January 2011

The ‘desert rock’ music scene may have given Tuareg bands like Tinariwen and Tamikrest an international spotlight, but knowledge of their culture and plight remains limited in the UK: photo by Henrietta Butler via the Guardian, 26 May 2015

Netanyahu stirs trouble by linking late Muslim leader to the Holocaust: image via Reuters Top News @Reuters, 21 October 2015

 

Anger at Netanyahu claim Palestinian grand mufti inspired Holocaust: Israeli PM accused of trivialising the Holocaust for saying grand mufti of Jerusalem gave Hitler idea of exterminating Europe’s Jews: Peter Beaumont in Jerusalem for The Guardian, 21 October 2015