"Let's stay alert": Beatdown of a Black Man in Beersheba, the Daring Dance of the Demon King and other scenes along Refugee Road

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Haftom Zarhum, a 29-year-old Eritrean migrant, was shot by a security guard and kicked by bystanders: photo by AP via Al jazeera, 20 October 2015

Eritrean envoy to 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

Gunman in attack in Israel identified as Bedouin, as Kerry says "clarity" needed at holy site: image via New York Times World @nytimesworld, 19 October 2015

 

Haftom Zarhum was shot by Israeli cops & violently killed by vigilante mob #BlackLivesMatter #Beersheba: image via vimto mami @lunarnomad, 19 October 2015

 

BREAKING: Photo of the #Eritrean refugee shot and beaten by Israeli police & mob in #Beersheba Israel: image via Anonymous @AnonOps_Eritrea, 19 October 2015

#Stabbing process & shooting in #Beersheba station. 1 zionist dead & 7 injured #PalestineResists #Man4Palestine: image via Dr. Halina @doc_hal, 18 October 2015

#Stabbing process & shooting in #Beersheba station. 1 zionist dead & 7 injured #PalestineResists #Man4Palestine: image via Dr. Halina @doc_hal, 18 October 2015

 

#Stabbing process & shooting in in #Beersheba station. 1 zionist dead & 7 injured #PalestineResists #Man4Palestine: image via Dr. Halina @doc_hal, 18 October 2015

 

Eritrean mistaken for terrorist shot, beaten as #Beersheba attack unfolded: image via Cassandra Vinograd Verified account @CassVinograd, 19 October 2015

 

Eritrean Envoy Calls for Arrest of Israeli #Beersheba Lynch Mob c @deray @MRN1SA @CornelWest: image via #NoJusticeNoPeace @PalsJustice, 21 October 2015

W.H. Auden: Miranda's Song ("Up jumped the Black Man behind the elder tree")

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.

W.H. Auden (1907-1973): Miranda, from The Sea and The Mirror: A Commentary on Shakespeare's The Tempest, 1942-1944, in For the Time Being, 1944

 

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

#Future Boo #Tuareg Man! Eyes so damn beautiful smh: image via Fatima Dee @Coco3yoon, 10 May 2015

 

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

#Tuareg/#Tamasheq traditional hairstyle...  #Mali #Niger @Algeria #BurkinaFaso #Libya: image via Rougi @futadjalon, 5 October 2014

Un popolo nomade e purtroppo in estinzione. #Tuareg #Mali #Niger #Maghreb #DonneInArte@Algeria #DonneNelMondo @alecoscino: image via Antonella Cantone @AntonellaCanto3, 5 October 2014

Effigies of the Demon King

In #Haryana village, demon-king Ravana aims for #WorldRecord: image via INDIA TRENDING NOW @ITNlive, 21 October 2015

 

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

 

Indian vendor sells effigies of the Hindu demon King Ravana on the roadside in Amritsar. By Narinder Nanu #AFP: image via Sophie Chauveau @s_chauveauAFP, 20 October 2015

Woman drives past #Ravana effigies in #Bhopal: image via Indscribe @indscribe, 21 October 2015

No one will be spared if the Mighty #Ravana doesn't get his cookie back #HappyNavrati: image via Unibic Cookies @UnibicCookie, 20 October 2015

 

Historians and opposition denounce Netanyahu for saying Palestinian mufti inspired Hitler: image via New York Times World @nytimesworld, 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

The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has attracted a storm of criticism for an incendiary speech in which he accused the second world war Palestinian grand mufti of Jerusalem of “inspiring the Holocaust”.

The comments in a speech at the World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem, in the context of the current violence between Israelis and Palestinians, were condemned as incorrect by historians and the Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog for trivialising the Holocaust.

On the Palestinian side, senior official Saeb Erekat described the remarks as absolving Adolf Hitler. 

#90YearsOfRSS And now even #Ravana is trying to get away!: Sakshi Nanda @Sakshe13, 20 October 2015

Israel approved construction of the West Bank Barrier in the summer of 2002. Israel describes the structure as a security barrier with no political significance. But some Palestinians view it as a way of protecting settlements and securing areas for expansion: image via AFPgraphics @AFPgraphics, 20 October 2015

Israel approved construction of the West Bank Barrier in the summer of 2002. Israel describes the structure as a security barrier with no political significance. But some Palestinians view it as a way of protecting settlements and securing areas for expansion: image via AFPgraphics @AFPgraphics, 20 October 2015

Israel approved construction of the West Bank Barrier in the summer of 2002. Israel describes the structure as a security barrier with no political significance. But some Palestinians view it as a way of protecting settlements and securing areas for expansion: image via AFPgraphics @AFPgraphics, 20 October 2015

 

Israel approved construction of the West Bank Barrier in the summer of 2002. Israel describes the structure as a security barrier with no political significance. But some Palestinians view it as a way of protecting settlements and securing areas for expansion: image via AFPgraphics @AFPgraphics, 20 October 2015

 

 UN chief tells Israelis, Palestinians to urgently calm tensions: image via Agence France-Presse @AFP, 20 October 2015

 

A Palestinian protester hurls stones towards Israeli troops during clashes at the Israeli Hawara checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus, October 16, 2015. The unrest that has engulfed Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, the most serious in years, has claimed the lives of 34 Palestinians and seven Israelis [photo Ahmad Talat/Reuters]: image via Reuters Opinion @Reuters, 21 October 2015
 

136 attacks on medics, 47 dead and thousands injured since the start of October: Palestinian Ministry of Health: image via syndicalist @syndicalist, 21 October 2015

 

#Palestine - How a knife suddenly appears next to a dead Palestinian! #Israel: image via DOAM @doammuslims, 20 October 2015

Rabbis for Human Rights: Like every year, Israeli settlers continue to steal Palestinian #olive fields #Palestine image via Gabriel Helou @GabrielHelou, 20 October 2015

Rabbis for Human Rights: Like every year, Israeli settlers continue to steal Palestinian #olive fields #Palestine image via Gabriel Helou @GabrielHelou, 20 October 2015

The olive harvest in occupied Palestine can cost them lives.. #Palestine teaches life #PalestineUnderAttackimage via Rosmewarda_Palestine @RosmeWarda, 20 October 2015

 

#WestBank: 54-year-old Palestinian dies from tear gas inhalation during clashes in Hebron:: image via syndicalist @syndicalist, 21 October 2015

#WesrBank: Confrontations between Israeli occupation forces and youth near Beit El settlement, north of al-Bireh: image via syndicalist @syndicalisms, 20 October 2015

#WesrBank: Confrontations between Israeli occupation forces and youth near Beit El settlement, north of al-Bireh: image via syndicalist @syndicalisms, 20 October 2015

#WesrBank: Confrontations between Israeli occupation forces and youth near Beit El settlement, north of al-Bireh: image via syndicalist @syndicalisms, 20 October 2015

#WesrBank: Confrontations between Israeli occupation forces and youth near Beit El settlement, north of al-Bireh: image via syndicalist @syndicalisms, 20 October 2015 

A Palestinian swings a sling during clashes with Israeli troops, near Ramallah, West Bank, Tuesday: photo by Majdi Mohammed/AP, 20 October 2015

Israel razes West Bank home of jailed Palestinian as clashes continue: image via Agence France-Presse @AFP, 20 October 2015

Palestinian protesters look around a wall during clashes in the West Bank city of Hebron, on Wednesday: image via Abed Al Hashlamoun/EPA, 21 October 2015

 

On Refugee Road

#Greece: A #Syrian amputee whose prosthetic leg is on his baby's stroller walks with his family at Piraeus port: image via Talar Kalajian @TalarKala, 21 October 2015 

Mounted police officers escorted hundreds of migrants after they crossed into Dobova, Slovenia, from Croatia. Slovenia has faced a surge of migrants since Saturday, when Hungary sealed its border with Croatia: photo by Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times, 20 October 2015

Slovenia buckles as migrants rush to escape winter, border closures: image via Agence France-Presse @AFP, 20 October 2015 

A child resting with other migrants on a road near the village of Berkasovo, Serbia, near the border with Croatia. Many migrants had been stranded for days in ankle-deep mud and rain: photo by Darko Vojinovic/Associated Press, 20 October 2015 

Migrants wear UNHCR plastic bags on their shoes to protect against the rain as they wait to enter Croatia @AFP: image via Talar Kalajian @TalarKala, 20 October 2015

 People gather for an anti-migrant demonstration in Dresden: image via Reuters Top News @Reuters, 20 October 2015


The German federal police guided a group of migrants after they crossed the border from Austria in Wegscheid: photo by Matthias Schrader/Associated Press, 20 October 2015

Migrants are entering Europe with little or no screening, leading to fears of unrest: image via New York Times World@nytimesworld, 20 October 2015

 

Slovenia to ask EU for police back-up to cope with influx of migrants: image via Reuters Top News @Reuters, 20 October 2015

A man carries his daughter as they walk with other migrants and asylum seekers after crossing the Macedonian-Serbian border near the village of Miratovac on Tuesday: photo by Armend Nimani/AFP, 20 October 2015

Migrants and asylum seekers walk after crossing the Macedonian-Serbian border. By @armend_nimani #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department@AFPphoto, 21 October 2015

Migrants and asylum seekers walk after crossing the Macedonian-Serbian border. By @armend_nimani #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department@AFPphoto, 21 October 2015

Migrants and asylum seekers walk after crossing the Macedonian-Serbian border. By @armend_nimani #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department@AFPphoto, 21 October 2015

Migrants and asylum seekers walk after crossing the Macedonian-Serbian border. By @armend_nimani #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department@AFPphoto, 21 October 2015

 

#Serbia: A woman carrying her child walks near Miratovac after crossing the Macedonian-Serbian border #migrantcrisis: image via Talar Kalajian @TalarKala, 20 October 2015

 

A child drags a suitcase after crossing the Macedonian-Serbian border, near Miratovac. By @armend_nimani #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department@AFPphoto, 20 October 2015 

 

Nowhere to Run

 #INFOGRAPHIC 35,000 displaced from Aleppo, Syria following fresh regime offensives, UN said @AFP: image via Agence France-Presse @AFP, 20 October 2015

A man rests inside a damaged house by what activists said were air strikes by forces loyal to Syria’s president Bashar Al-Assad in Jabal al-Akrad area in northwestern Syria 31 December: photo by Alaa Khweled/Reuters via the Guardian, 4 January 2015

Over 76,000 people killed in #Syrian war in 2014 – NGO: image via Sputnik @Sputnikint, 1 January 2015

"Eat cats and dogs.." clerics told to the starving #syrian children... @Free Media Hub: image via #happynewSYRIAyear @AejKhalil, 30 December 2014

Pic via @TheSyriaPulse: Rebel fighter moves through wall near frontline against regime forces, #Aleppo #Syria Dec. 28: image via Al-Monitor @AlMonitor, 31 December 2014

The war on doctors. "In Aleppo, #Syria largest city in the country, only 13 surgeons remain": image via Nadim Houry @nadimhoury, 20 November 2014

#Syria war deadliest in 2014 with 76,000 killed: Monitor: image via News Nation @NewsNationTV, 1 January 2014

Syria's Assad promises jobs to relatives of killed soldiers #Syria: image via Middle East Eye @MidleEastEye, 1 January 2015

Syrian conflict has claimed 76,000 lives in deadliest year yet, say monitors #Syria: image via MintPress News @MintPressNews, 1 January 2015

Putin attacks the civilians and the FSA taking them to be ISIS while ISIS is 100 km away from us. #Syria #Kafranbel: image via Hadi Al Abdallah @HadiAlabdallah, 5 October 2015

Russian Air Force Targets Hospitals in #Syria #Assad: image via Syrian Coalition @SyrCoalition, 3 October 2015

Issam Al Saleh died a hero. Killed by Russian dble tap while saving others. Photo shows being carried by colleagues.: image via The White Helmets @SyriaCivilDef, 3 October 2015

[Untitled]: image via baraa al halabi @baraaalhalabi, 3 October 2015

[Untitled]: image via baraa al halabi @baraaalhalabi, 3 October 2015

No Russian intervention in Syria: image via baraa al halabi @baraaalhalabi, 7 October 2015

Giuseppe Ungaretti: In Memoria ("he was once alive")

Cinquièmrue 6 (3 rue Basse des Carmes, Paris 5 e.): photo by André Fantelin, 24 August 2012

.......Locvizza il 30 settembre 1916

Si chiamava
Moammed Sceab

Discendente
di emiri nomadi
suicida
perchè non aveva più
Patria

Amò la Francia
e mutò nome

Fu Marcel
ma non era Francese
e non sapeva più
vivere
nella tenda dei suoi
dove si ascolta la cantilena
del Corano
gustando un caffè

E non sapeva
sciogliere
il canto
del suo abbandono

L'ho accompagnato
insiema alla padrona dell'albergo
dove abitavamo
a Parigi
dal numero 5 della rue des Carmes
appasito vicolo in discesa

Riposa
nel camposanto d'Ivry
sobborgo che pare
sempre in una giornata
di una
decomposta fiera

E forse io solo
so ancora
che visse

 

حسن عيد الاضحى / Très bonne fête à tous nos frères musulmans à l'occasion de l'Aïd al-Adha ! / Very good day to all our Muslim friends, day of sacrifice!: street art (collage) by Matlaw, Rue des Carmes, Quartier Panthéon, Paris: photo by Mickaël  VO Y PHONG, 26 October 2012

.....Locvizza 30 September 1916

His name was

Mohamed Sceab

Descendant

of emirs of nomadic tribes

took his own life

because he had lost

his Homeland

Loved France
and changed his name

Was Marcel

but wasn't French

had forgot how

to simply live
sipping a coffee

in the tent of his people

where the little singsong

of the Koran is chanted

And didn't know how to

give

his separateness
a voice

I went along with the concierge

from the hotel where we lived

in Paris

following his body

down the dingy alleyway

from number 5 rue des Carmes

His remains

rest

in the cemetery at Ivry

dolorous suburb

that always brings to mind

the day

a fairground comes down

It may be I alone
still know

he was once alive

Giuseppe Ungaretti (1888-1970): In Memoria, 30 September 1916, from ll porto sepolto, 1916; English version TC

 Panhard automotive factory, rue Nationale, Ivry, Paris: photographer unknown, n.d.; image by crescendixx, 18 May 2012

Rue des Carmes, Paris: photo by Omar (ahmed1948), 10 October 2009

Bedouin tent, Sharm El Sheik, Egypt: photo by Michele Orsi, 7 May 2007

On the river Nile, Egypt, between Cairo and Luxor, with a slow movement on the water: photo by Absinthias, 19 November 2005

 

Encampment of Bedouins, on the Nile, Egypt: photo by G. Lédékian and Company, n.d. [c.1891-1895]; image by Boston Public Library, 18 November 2009 (William Vaughn Tupper Scrapbook Collection, Boston Public Library)