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Israeli Prime Minister decried racism experienced by Ethiopians in Israel

Posted on by Elias Kifle

(JTA) The Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert opened Sunday’s Cabinet meeting with grave remarks in response to a newspaper expose last week about a religious school in Petah Tikva at which girls of Ethiopian descent are segregated from their peers.

Olmert described “a feeling of general hardship on the part of Ethiopian children and the community as a
whole within Israeli society” and added, “I cannot say that this feeling is divorced from reality or is true only regarding a specific place in the country.”

“There are problems, there are hardships, the sense of wrongdoing is not disconnected from real life, and
ultimately we can and must do something to change this,” Olmert said, adding that the government will put together a comprehensive action plan next month.

Petah Tikva authorities said the school segregation was prompted by differences between the religious
upbringing of the Ethiopian girls and the others. The incident was especially painful for many Ethiopian
immigrants given the reluctance with which many rabbinical authorities recognize them as Jewish.

13 thoughts on “Israeli Prime Minister decried racism experienced by Ethiopians in Israel”

  1. I believe that there will come a time when Ethiopian Jews will struggle hard to come back to their beloved homeland, Ethiopia, where and when every person is treated equally as a human being irrespective of colour, creed, gender,or political affiliation.

    In the mean time: suffer the children of Ethiopia whether in Israel, Arab countries, and elsewhere!

    Ethiopia stretches its hands unto God!

    Hibret Selamu

  2. Dear all;
    This news hould not come as a surprize. First and formost, all ethiopians should fight their enemy at home and live there. I believe that this is the only option to live in harmony and joy without the influence of other forginers. Let us
    1. Fight out enemy in ethiopia all together
    2. Work hard to develop our country and live there in harmony like what the Iseralies have been doing.

  3. Dear all;
    This news should not come as a surprize. First and formost, we all ethiopians should fight our enemy at home and live there. I believe that this is the only option to live in harmony and joy without the influence of other forginers. Let us all together.
    1. Fight our enemy in ethiopia
    2. Work hard to develop our country and live there in harmony like what the Iseralies have been doing.

  5. Dear Anonymous (Hibret Selamu),

    May be i did not understand u well or u did not understand the situation of current Ethiopia…..

    Ethiopia is not a country where everybody is treated equally..The very first step to correct the wrong doing is to acknowledge it! The truth must be said! After all it is the problem happening in Ethiopia whih led to exodus of the people..and clearly it is increasing with an alarming rate specially sicne the TPLF led atrocious Junta assumed power in 1991…. Many tens of thousands of people have been and are bing persecuted & executed for only having a different political views.. and clearly people from Tigray are being favored in every aspect by the cost of many millions of Oromo and other ethnic people of Ethiopia.

  6. Wake up Israel!

    After waiting all these years without listening to the cries, the demonstrations, the appeals and tears of the oppressed, depressed, and overlooked Ethiopian black Jews, the Prime Minister of Israel, Mr. Ehud Olmert, has finally recognized that an evil spirit exists in the minds and hearts of the Israeli white Jews, and that evil spirit is racism. To drive out such an evil spirit from its permanent dwelling place – the heart of a white Israeli Jew – by performing an exorcism, Israel needs some one that has the spirit of Paul or the spirit of Jesus, not the spirit of Mr. Olmert who has been tested to eliminate that evil racism completely from the state of Israel but failed to do so because he has never in the first place acknowledged such an evil spirit in the name of racism exists in Israel until he read a news paper that assured him that racism with all its legions has existed in Israel since the Operation of Moses in 1984. How can, however, someone trust Mr. Olmert, who failed to bring a decisive victory to Israel with less human casualties and within a short time during the war between Hezbollah and Israel, will bring an end to racism so powerful than the rockets of Hezbollah that hits decisively its targets – the Ethiopian Jewish communities?

    Mr. Olmert should know the problems that are affecting the young and the old Ethiopian black Jews are more serious than the war between Lebanon and Israel, more complicated than the Palestinian and the Israeli issues, and they are in their hundreds, and he should be ready to correct them without any delay. Some of these problems as I hear from my Ethiopian black Jews’ friends and from my reading some news papers and reviews especially from the most informative and more accurate resource – The Ethiopian Review – are the following:

    1. The state of Israel has never accepted the Ethiopian black Jews as real Jews.
    2. The Israelis, especially the Israeli white Jews, believe that the Ethiopian black Jews are backwards; they are from the Stone Age time.
    3. The Ethiopian black Jews do not observe the Israeli white Jewish Sabbath as the other Israeli Jews do.
    4. The Ethiopian black Jews do not adhere to most of the Mosaic Laws.
    5. The Ethiopian black Jews are ignorant of the Hebrew language.
    6. The Ethiopian black Jews have no idea about the Jews’ Diaspora.
    7. The Ethiopian black Jews have no clue about the gas chamber during World II.
    8. The upbringing of the Ethiopian black Jews’ girls is in comparable with that of the Israeli white Jews’.
    9. The Ethiopian black Jews’ school children are not allowed to go to and learn in the elitist schools in Israel.
    10. The Ethiopian black Jews’ children cannot play with the Israeli white Jews’ school children in the same playground.
    11. The Ethiopian black Jews’ children are not allowed to ride the same school bus with the Israeli white Jews’ children.
    12. An Ethiopian black Jews’ collage graduate student cannot find a high paying job in the land of Israeli white Jews.
    13. The only job available for the young Ethiopian black Jews is in the Israeli Army
    14. The Ethiopian black Jews’ children are mostly depressed because the Israeli white Jews call them “tikur.”
    15. The Ethiopian black Jews are uncomfortable working with the Israeli white Jews because the Israeli white Jews say to them: “Go home, tikur! Go home!
    16. The Israeli white Jews are always an easy when ever they see an Ethiopian black Jewish person passes by.
    17. When an Ethiopian black Jew enters a restaurant and sits next to an Israeli white person, the person with his plates leaves the table and takes another seat.
    18. The Israeli white Jews are uncomfortable to worship God in the same synagogue with an Ethiopian black Jew.
    19. The Ethiopian black Jews have come to the “promise land” from the Dark Continent – Africa – so they know nothing. They are ignorant.
    20. The Ethiopian black Jews’ children have no manner in school, in the play ground, and every place they go. So an Israeli white man says: “watch out!”

    These and many other physical and psychological problems that the Ethiopian black Jews have been facing for a long time because of racism in Israel cannot be ignored as trivial issues. Mr. Ehud Olmert has promised that he “will put together a comprehensive action plan next month” to deal with such pressing issues. I am not completely optimistic though because when that next month arrives, it is very easy for the Prime Minister to say next year instead of next month or next week. In this case, I will invite him to read the Book of Leviticus over and over again: “Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.” (19:15)

  7. It is ironic that a people of Israel after all they have been through the centures turn right around and excercise the same hatred and racism others showed and are still showing them.
    Human nature is human nature even when surrounded by hostile enemies on all fronts they find ways to hate.
    This tetabaki (like kunicha) state of the US should embrace all it’s children

  8. ዴቭድ ላምብ የተባለዉ የሎሳጀለስ ታይምስ ክሮስፖንደንት ዘ አፍሪካንስ በተባለው መጽሃፉ እንደነ ኢድያሚን ያሉ ጨካኝና አምጋነን መሪዎች ወገናቸዉን ሲያሸብሩትና ምድራዊ ሲኦል ሲያሳዩት በአፍሪካ የመሪዎች ስብሰባ ላይ ሲገኙ ይጨበጭብላቸዉ ነበር:: አንድም የአፍሪቃ አገር መሪ በዚያን ጊዜ ያን አረመኔአዊ ድርጊት አላወገዘም:: በሌላ በኩል ግን ከዚህ ግባ የማይባል ቅንጣት ያህል ነገር በአጋጣሚ በአንድ ነጭ ሲፈጸም አህጉሩ በሙሉ ይናጋል ብሏል:: አዎ ይህ ድርጊት ዛሬም በሰፊዉ ይታያል:: ስለዚህ እኛም አሁን በአገራችን አየተፈጸመ ያለዉን የከፋ በደል እያየን በሰለጠኑት አገሮች ጉዳይ ገብተን እንፈተፍታለን:: ተዎደደም ተጠላም ኢትዮጵያዉያን አይሁዶቹ በብዙ መልኩ የማህበራዊዉም ሆነ የኢኮኖሚ ነጻነት ኢትዮጵያ እያሉ ከነበረዉ በጣም እጅግ በጣም የተሸለ አላቸዉ:: አለ የሚባለዉን ዘረኝነትም እየታገሉት እንደሆነ ይሄዉ በመሪያቸዉ ከአሁኑ እየሰማነው ነዉ:: ይልቅስ አገር ቤት አበሳዉን ለሚያየዉ ወገናችን እንጩህ እንታገል መፍትሄ እናምጣ መከራዉን እናሳጥረዉ:: ሰላም ለሁላችን::

  10. Asseta b gatu, ethiopia’s black jew had experinced with the gas chamber in the world 11 war. do not forget. Very intersting, Israelians should not forget where had their fore fathers been living before. we know Israel needs black ethiopians to strength it’s military force. thatis why black ethiopians are joining in large numbers.

  11. Ethiopians are very nice and beautiful people. I am Israeli. I have lots of Ethiopian friends. But their skin is dark. May be marrying with them and having babies with them is a problem to many Israelis. So they do not want their kids getting used to them. I know my Parents do not want me to marry a black person. Some people from Israel are disappointed our society have black skinned people in it. This is a fact. So we have racism based on skin color in Israel.

  12. An Israeli person himself or herself witnessing that Israeli whites never accept Ethiopian black Jews and as a result never give their daughters or sons in marriage to them is an amazing fact that racism, in its all ugly forms, exists in Israel. I doubt though that the Ethiopian black Jew wants to marry an Israeli white Jew, and there is nothing wrong if he/she does. However, most Ethiopian Jews, Ethiopian Christians, and Ethiopian Muslims prefer by far marring Ethiopians to Israeli white Jews or other whites.

    Ethiopians are proud of their dark and smooth skins – skins that do not oblige them every summer to go the beach for tanning, and they do not want to change such lovely skins of theirs. On the other hand, if they want to, the Prophet Jeremiah asks them: “Can the Ethiopian change his skin….?” And to the Israeli white Jews, the Prophet says: “Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil.” (13:23) Yes, the Israeli white Jews are accustomed to doing evil – hating the Ethiopian black Jews and preventing them from marring their sons and daughters

  13. Desm you point out the realities of your country. unfortuntely your people forget that moses was married to an ethiopian. skin tone of moses, abraham, etc.. i am sure was much closer to us than yours. You all have mixed with lighter toned people during your exile. Bigotry is everywhere only time will tell.

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