“It’s funny that Herzl was a man who said that Jews should be together
but… it’s full of Ethiopians living separately,” said protest leader
Rachel Sium-Aaron, 26, pointing to a sign emblazoned with Herzl’s name.
Few Israelis had heard of Kiryat Malachi, much less been to the
down-on-its-heels town of 25,000 on the road to Beersheba from Ashdod,
until television news reports in early January broke the scandal of
apartment leases that supposedly barred Ethiopians from living there.
Ethiopians responded by mounting one of the biggest
demonstrations in their community’s short history, drawing about half of
the town’s estimated 5,000 Ethiopians into the streets on January 10.
The East African immigrants and their allies staged a similarly sized protest on January 18, outside the Knesset in Jerusalem.
Ethiopian elders say the protests, organized using
social media and led by people in their 20s, represent a dramatic new
stage in their community’s history.
Many of the protest leaders are second-generation
immigrants who grew up in Israel and may feel more confident protesting
racism than their parents, who came from Ethiopia in the famed airlifts
of so-called Falasha Jews.
“The youngsters didn’t appreciate what was happening
until now,” said Yaakov Kabada, a leader of Kiryat Malachi’s Ethiopian
community. “But now they have woken up. Now it’s all bursting out.”
Studies reveal that de facto school segregation exists
in some places in Israel, with some schools populated entirely by
children of Ethiopian origin. In Kiryat Malachi, some neighborhoods
appear to be populated almost entirely by African immigrants.
“‘Ethiopian only’ schools are a disgusting and
condemnable phenomenon that stain the entire education system,” Alex
Miller, chairman of the Knesset Education Committee, said in September.
Kiryat Malachi, Israel — Ethiopians
also suffer employment discrimination. When Ono Academic College
scholars surveyed advertising executives, lawyers, bankers and other
professionals, some 53% said that people in their profession prefer not
to employ Ethiopians.
The new consciousness is on display around Kiryat
Malachi, where protesters have spray-painted graffiti proclaiming
“Ethiopian price tag,” a reference to the well-publicized “price tag”
campaign carried out by right-wing Jewish settlers who oppose compromise
with the Palestinians.
Sitting aimlessly at a bus stop in Kiryat Malachi,
Ambatio Damete conceded that he had nowhere to go. An unemployed
32-year-old Ethiopian, he has high hopes for the new protests.
“We haven’t studied to the level of other Israelis; we
don’t have professions, and even those who have degrees aren’t getting
jobs,” he said.
At Beit Tzipora, a Kiryat Malachi youth center,
educator Cassao Jacob is under house arrest. Police say he is
responsible for the graffiti, a charge he denies. He accuses them of
shutting down his Facebook page to slow down the movement, which Israel
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld denied.
“I know it’s because of the demonstrations… they think they can stop us,” Jacob told the Forward.
Jacob, 26, is charismatic and eloquent, with the same
engaging youthful quality as Daphne Leef, a leader of last summer’s
social justice protests that rocked the country. He describes Ethiopian
youngsters as “outsiders from Israeli society because of color and
culture.”
A veteran of the Second Lebanon War who did his army
service in a combat unit, he says he exemplifies the frustration of many
young Ethiopians who serve the country without getting anything back in
return.
“After all these things, this country gives me racism and police action,” Jacob said. “It’s very sad for me.”
Sium-Aaron insists that the emerging Ethiopian protest
movement aims at uniting all Israelis: blacks and whites, immigrants and
those born in Israel.
Sium-Aaron says that it “is not only for us, it’s for
the country, too.” She reasoned that Ethiopians are currently seen as a
very loyal minority to the state, and more committed than other
demographics to army service — but that this enthusiasm could dissipate.
“If people here aren’t respected, they won’t serve the country in the same way,” she said. “There will be chaos.”
The protests have spurred conversation and tension in
Kiryat Malachi. In the town center, some non-Ethiopians saw the
apartment discrimination as clear-cut racism. Businessman Moshe Lavi
said that residents accused of barring Ethiopians should publicly
apologize. Otherwise, “it won’t end quietly,” he said. Artist Lilly Ezra
says she supports the protesters and that they are “absolutely right
100%.”
Others insisted they are not racists. But they conceded
that they understand why some Israelis would not want Ethiopians living
in their apartment buildings.
An Israeli-born shopkeeper who declined to give her
name because local tensions are running so high said that Ethiopians
should become more like Israeli-born people. She said Ethiopians do not
cook or act the same as other Israelis.
“Their culture is so different, and they don’t know how
to be with us,” she said. “[We] want to teach them a different way, but
they don’t want it…. Nobody wants Ethiopians in their building.”
The same split reaction to Ethiopians apparently exists
at the highest levels of Israel’s government. When Ethiopian activist
Gadi Desta said that there were incidents of “apartheid” in Israel,
Immigration and Absorption Minister Sofa Landver rebuked him for not
appreciating what his new home had given him.
“You need to be grateful for what you have received,” said Landver, an immigrant from Russia.
President Shimon Peres responded by noting the contribution that Ethiopians have made to society.
“We, the State of Israel, should say thank you to immigrants from Ethiopia,” Peres said, “and not vice versa.”
"Agora eu quero ver quem é o otário, pra falar que tem apartheid em Israel!"
La esposa del presidente Shimón Peres, Sonia Peres, falleció a la edad de 87 años, en su casa en el barrio de Ramat Aviv, en el norte de Tel Aviv.
