2024 RLLR 29

Citation: 2024 RLLR 29
Tribunal: Refugee Protection Division
Date of Decision: February 2, 2024
Panel: Edward Bosveld
Counsel for the Claimant(s): John Norris Ormston
Country: Israel
RPD Number: TC2-07315
Associated RPD Number(s): TC2-07317, TC2-07318, TC2-07320
ATIP Number: A-2024-01886
ATIP Pages: N/A

DECISION

[1]       XXXX XXXX (the principal claimant), his spouse XXXX XXXX (the associate claimant), and their children XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX (the minor claimants) seek refugee protection pursuant to Sections 96 and 97 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA).

[2]       The principal claimant was designated as the representative of the minor claimants.

[3]       These claims were heard on December 18, 2023 and January 4, 2024. Post-hearing written submissions were received and considered. The claimants also provided post-hearing disclosure on country conditions,¹ which the panel has accepted and considered.

ALLEGATIONS

[4]       The claimants are Arab Christians. The principal claimant was a successful XXXX with his own firm in Haifa. In 2018, he began to receive threats from a Muslim criminal organization which demanded that he help criminals purchase church-subsidized housing. He refused, and the criminals began to extort money from him in the form of “protection” fees. He knew that if he did not pay his property would be destroyed or he and his family would be harmed. In addition to the extortion, he was forced to provide free XXXX to members of the criminal organization and to arrange for the XXXX from his XXXX clients.

[5]       The amount demanded by the criminals increased, and the principal claimant was unable to meet the demands. He was stopped in the street and threatened, and shots were fired at his house. He moved to live with his parents, and also moved his office, but the criminals found him. In January of 2021 they damaged his office, slashed his tires, and burned his car. In June of 2021 the criminals demanded additional money to make up for delays in payment during the coronavirus pandemic, and threatened to kidnap the minor claimants. They also warned that they would harm the children if the police were contacted.

[6]       The claimants fled Israel for Canada, via Romania, in late XXXX of 2021. After they left, the criminals began to send threatening messages to the principal claimant’s father. He went to the police and filed a complaint; the police closed the case, however, stating they were unable to locate the suspects. Criminals came to the principal claimant’s accountant’s office and threatened him, and tried to set fire to the principal claimant’ s parents’ apartment. Criminals attended the minor claimants’ school, asking about one of the minor claimants, and the principal claimant’s law office was destroyed.

[7]       Upon return to Israel, the claimants fear that they will be harmed or killed by Muslim criminal gangs who claim that the principal claimant owes them extortion money as well as interest on that money. They submit that, as Christian Arabs, they are a minority within a minority and cannot expect adequate state protection, particularly in the current situation where Israel is engaged in a full-scale war in Gaza.

DETERMINATION

[8]       The claimants are persons in need of protection. The panel finds, on a balance of probabilities, that they face a risk to life in Israel, and they cannot expect adequate state protection or avail themselves of a viable internal flight alternative.

ANALYSIS

Identity

[9]       Each claimant’s personal and national identity as a citizen of Israel is established by their testimony and the documents filed, including their Israeli passports.²

Credibility

[10]     There is a presumption that when a refugee claimant promises to tell the truth, as the adult claimants did here, the testimony that follows is true unless the panel has good reason to doubt its veracity.

[11]     The adult claimants testified in a spontaneous, forthright manner. There were no significant inconsistencies or contradictions within their evidence. Their allegations were corroborated by numerous documents, and by two witnesses – a senior police officer, and the principal claimant’s father, both of whom testified virtually from Israel.

[12]     The panel finds that the claimants have established with credible evidence that they were threatened and extorted by a Muslim criminal organization, and that the criminals continued to seek them even after they left the country. Having considered the claimants’ evidence, as well as the objective evidence,³ the panel finds it more likely than not that the claimants face a risk to their lives upon return to Israel.

State Protection

[13]     There is a presumption that states can provide adequate protection for their own citizens. Before the claimants can receive Canada’s surrogate protection, they must rebut this presumption with clear and convincing evidence of Israel’s inability to protect them.

[14]     A claimant from a democratic country bears a heavy burden to rebut the presumption, although democracy alone does not guarantee adequate state protection.⁴ The panel is required to undertake a fulsome and contextual analysis of the claimants’ particular situation.⁵

[15]     The claimants’ personal evidence is mixed with respect to state protection. The principal claimant testified that, after shots were fired at or near the family home, a neighbour called police. Police responded after some time, drove around the area, and then left. The claimants did not make their own complaint to the police, because the criminals had warned them not to, and the claimants knew of others who had complained and been harmed or killed. The principal claimant did make a police complaint after he was threatened; although the criminal he complained about has a high profile, the police closed the case, saying that they could not locate the suspect.

[16]     The claimants called as a witness Sheriff XXXX who is employed by the Israeli police in the Counter Threat Division at the Northern District Headquarters. Mr. XXXX who has worked for the police for 18 years, testified that he is responsible for providing security to police officers under threat from criminals and gangs. He is also a friend of the claimants’ family. Mr. XXXX testified that, while he was not involved in the claimants’ police case, he did advise them to make police reports. He testified that, despite good intentions, the police are often unable to protect civilians from criminals. He stated that there is a particular difficulty in protecting minority civilians – in this case, Arab Christians – and that these groups are particularly at risk as they are unable to rely on protection from large clans or tribes. He testified that civilians who make complaints against organized criminals are often killed, especially in the Arab population. In his opinion, the claimants will be killed if they return to Israel, and the police would not be able to protect them in their particular circumstances.

[17]     Mr. XXXX also testified that criminal activity has increased in Israel since the October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks, and the police are overwhelmed, with many officers quitting their jobs.

[18]     In addition to the evidence of the claimants and the witnesses, the panel has also considered objective evidence. Israel is a multiparty parliamentary democracy with “basic laws” that set out rights and freedoms. The National Police report to the Ministry of Public Security, and civilian authorities maintain effective control over police and security forces. The law provides for the right to a fair and public trial, and the judiciary is independent.⁶

[19]     Objective evidence shows, however, that the Israeli police have difficulties in dealing with crime in the Arab community in Israel. In 2023 alone, 244 members of the Arab community were murdered, more than in any previous year and more than twice as many as in 2022. Most killings were carried out with firearms and were connected to criminal gangs. Police solved only 10.5% of the crimes, half the rate of the previous year. While the previous government created initiatives to end persistent gaps in policing between Jewish and Arab communities, the current government hollowed out these programs. The State Comptroller has called the government’ s response to surging violence inadequate, saying that the leap in crime represents a “resounding failure of the Israeli government.”⁷

[20]     While the crime rate among Israeli Arabs dropped sharply after the October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks, they have since risen quickly, something police attribute to a drop in police presence in the streets. According to objective evidence, only eight percent of Arab murders have led to an indictment, compared to a 65 percent indictment rate in cases involving Jewish victims.⁸

[21]     Arab community leaders have blamed the rise in violence on police, who they say have failed to crack down on powerful criminal organizations; they allege that the police largely ignore the violence.⁹ Even prior to the October 7 attacks, they allege, police ignored the growth of criminal organizations in Arab society and failed to patrol Arab communities.¹⁰ According to objective evidence, the police have seen reduced investigative capacity after the start of the Israel-Gaza war because officers have been called to serve in the military reserves.¹¹

[22]     The panel has carefully considered all of the evidence. Israel is a modern, democratic state, where civilian authorities control security and police forces. The claimants bear a heavy burden to rebut the presumption of adequate state protection. Their own efforts to obtain such protection were limited, as they were unwilling to do so as a result of the violent threats made by the criminal organization.

[23]     The objective evidence does, however, establish that the Israeli authorities have been unable to provide adequate protection in some contexts. The panel notes that the concerns described in the objective evidence relate directly to the claimants’ situation, as members of the Arab community fearing violence at the hands of criminal gangs. The claimants are Christians, which places them within an even smaller group within the Arab minority. Both the objective evidence and that of Mr. XXXX corroborate the claimants’ allegation that the police do not provide effective protection within the Arab community. The panel gives significant weight to the evidence of Mr. XXXX an experienced police officer in Israel, and to his testimony that the police would be unable to protect the claimants upon return to Israel, especially given the post­ October 7 context.

[24]     The panel finds that the claimants, in their particular and unique circumstances, cannot expect adequate state protection in Israel.

Internal Flight Alternative

[25]     Israel is a geographically small country. The claimants fear organized criminal gangs who have the means to locate the claimants anywhere in Israel. The criminals have shown that they are motivated to locate the claimants, including by their actions after the claimants left Israel. The panel finds that the claimants cannot avail themselves of a viable internal flight alternative (IFA.)

CONCLUSION

[26]     The claimants face a risk to life and of cruel and unusual treatment at the hands of organized criminal gangs. In their particular circumstances, they cannot expect adequate state protection, and they cannot avail themselves of a viable IFA. I find that each of the claimants is a person in need of protection, and accept their claims for Canada’s protection.

——— REASONS CONCLUDED ———

¹ Exhibit 8, Disclosure of January 19, 2024

² Exhibit 4, Passports

3 See, for example, Exhibit 8.

4 Katwaru, Shivanand Kumar v. MC.J, 2007 FC 612.

⁵ Lean Davila, Marco Antonio v. MC. J, 2006 FC 1475.

6 Exhibit 9, National Documentation Package for Israel, December, 2023, Item 2.1.

7 Exhibit 8, Item 1, Times of Israel, “244 Arabs said killed in 2023 violence … ,” January 1, 2024.

8 Exhibit 8, Item 2, Haaretz, “Murder Rate in Israel’s Arab Communities Surges… ,” December 17, 2023.

9 Exhibit 8, Item 3, Times of Israel, “Man Shot Dead in Northem Town of Ar’ara … ,” December 17, 2023.

10 Exhibit 8, Item 4, Allisrael.com, “Violence in Israel’s Arab Sector Continues Despite Israel-Gaza War… ,” December 17, 2023.

11 Exhibit 7, Page 57.