On Thursday, a Jerusalem District Court judge issued a temporary injunction preventing the Ministry of Interior from revoking the group protection of South Sudanese. The move effectively delays the deportation of South Sudanese refugees, which was set to begin today. Families, including Israeli-born children, are among those facing deportation to South Sudan. Human rights organizations say thousands of South Sudanese face expulsion; the number cited at a recent protest against the deportation was 700. The judge, Yigal Marzel, issued the order in response to a petition filed by the Aid Organization for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Israel (ASSAF), the African Refugee…

As South Sudan continues to build itself after less than a year of independence, Israeli businessmen are looking to profit both economically and ideologically from the potential Christian ally. Will the nascent country become a pawn in the clash between Islam and the West? By Christiane Marie Abu-Sarah Alongside the creation of the new Republic of South Sudan has come a flurry of excitement among political pundits, who see the nascent state as a perfect ally for Israel. As the reasoning goes, the Christian-majority South Sudan, which has long been embroiled in an internecine conflict with the Arab-Muslim population of…

Around 1,000 South Sudanese and Israelis held a rally in front of the Tel Aviv Cinematheque Saturday night to call on the Israeli government to allow them to remain in the country longer.  Since South Sudan gained independence on July 9, 2011, the Israel Population, Immigration and Borders Authority has decided that they must return willingly by April 1 or face deportation. At the rally, members of the South Sudanese community - who according to NGO figures are numbered at 700 and according to the Israeli government, 3,000 - requested they be allowed to remain in Israel longer since they fear for…

South Sudan joins the family of nations amid rising tensions with its neighbor to the north. While Israel has diplomatic and military interests in the new country, it is treading carefully for now It is not often one gets to start a sentence about the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir with the words “to his credit.” But it is definitely worth noting that despite his original insistence that the South would never secede, on Saturday he will be among the honored guests in Juba as South Sudan officially declares itself as an independent country. Perhaps even more notable, Bashir’s government in…