For Sudanese refugees in Israel, Hamas revives the trauma of Darfur

Monim Haroun, a Sudanese refugee living in Jerusalem, recently spoke about a fellow countryman, Adam Mohammed Barimal, who was murdered by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and how trauma has followed the Sudanese people since the Darfur genocide in the early 2000s. 

Approximately 6,600 Sudanese refugees are currently living in Israel after fleeing the civil war between the Sudanese Armed Forces of the legitimate government and the Rapid Support Forces, controlled by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

Dagalo is a former leader of "Janjaweed," an Arab terrorist organization in Sudan that has led many of the violent attacks against the civilian population over the last two decades.

Those refugees living in Israel regard Hamas and Janjaweed as being the same threat against peace and security as in their host nation and their home countries. They have watched with a double heartbreak as Islamists have attacked both Israelis and Sudanese since 2023.

Civilians in Sudan are caught up in a constant cycle of violence, starvation, and disease due to the war that began in April 2023. Over 450,000 deaths are attributed to Sudan’s civil strife, and around 11 million people have been displaced since 2003, including millions currently in Chad, South Sudan, and Egypt. The International Rescue Committee calls this “the largest and fastest displacement crisis on record.”

Haroun, who fled Sudan at the age of 11, said, “There is no other conflict that I can think of that is taking as many civilian lives as the crisis in Sudan.” He and other refugees are stunned by the double standard that the international community has held against Israel.

Media coverage of the crisis in Sudan has been sparse and muted at best, with international efforts to halt the violence or intervene having been limited. Antisemitic and anti-Israel bias in the media has led to an overload of coverage of the plight of Gaza's civilians, who elected Hamas. At the same time, the suffering of black Sudanese civilians being massacred by Arab groups has been largely ignored due to the racist anti-black stance held by Arab Muslim groups around the world, according to a Times of Israel article.

Currently, two-thirds of the Sudanese population, approximately 25 million people, are struggling with extreme hunger or famine due to the conflict, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.

Haroun currently serves as the Advocacy Manager at the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) Israel, an organization guided by Jewish values and history. HIAS works with host communities to support refugees, asylum seekers, and other displaced people worldwide, providing essential services and advocating for their rights so they can rebuild their lives.