Israeli student fleeing occupation's apartheid to appeal UK case for asylum
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A 22-year-old student will appeal his case in the UK, arguing that he should be given asylum on the grounds that "Israel" is an apartheid state.
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The Upper Tribunal can make findings about countries and conflicts that are legally binding
A 22-year-old Israeli UK asylum seeker will go forward to appeal his case against "Israel". The young man's lawyers say they have been given permission to press on with their client's case at a UK Upper Tribunal, and that they will argue that he should be granted asylum in the UK on the grounds that "Israel" adopts apartheid as its main policy.
The 22-year-old is a rabbinical student who has chosen to remain anonymous. He fled the Israeli regime in 2017 after receiving a letter telling him to report for military service.
The student's initial asylum claim was refused by British Home Secretary Priti Patel in December 2020, but a UK judge ruled in February that the student would face "inhuman and degrading treatment" if he was returned to the occupied territories, and allowed him to remain in the UK.
The earlier ruling
Although the student was pleased with the ruling allowing him to remain, he was not pleased with the court ruling focusing on his mental health instead of his legal team's argument, which addressed the "persecutory nature of Zionism."
Read more: Global Reaction, Call for Action on "Israel’s" Apartheid Against Palestinians
"My protesting against the state, my refusal to be conscripted, and the persecution I was subjected to by the Israeli authorities did not occur in a vacuum and must be viewed through the racist and oppressive structures of the state of Israel," he said.
The student's religious and political beliefs drove him to reject Zionism and "Israel's" existence. As an ultra-Orthodox jew, he believes that Jews should not return en masse to Palestine in the present times.
Because of his beliefs, and his taking part in anti-Zionist protests, he was beaten and spat on by Israeli police officers and sprayed with skunk water.
Read more: Haredi Jews may be force-recruited into Israeli occupation forces
The significance of the appeal
The case now has the potential to set a legally binding precedent in the UK, and could affect future Palestinian and Israeli asylum cases.
One of the student's lawyers, Franck Magennis, tweeted on Thursday that the case could help provide asylum for persecuted Jews and Palestinians that oppose Israeli apartheid.
Our anti-Zionist Jewish client has won the right to stay in Britain.
— Franck Magennis (@FranckMagennis) March 4, 2022
The case will now continue to the Upper Tribunal, who'll be asked to make findings about the risks Israel’s apartheid regime poses to Jews and Palestinians.
If successful, the appeal will set a vital precedent https://t.co/FHKcz3MNi9
