Racism & Ethiopian-born Jews: Israelis third class society

For years, black Jews in Israel have experienced racism. The current protests against police violence could now mark a political turning point.

In Israel, of course, there are no laws prohibiting people of different “races” from marrying each other, and there are no laws requiring the separation of “blacks” and “whites” on the bus. Nonetheless, it is hard to ignore the existence of institutional racism in the country that differentiates between Ethiopian immigrants* and their descendants and the rest of Israeli society.

The Israeli state’s refusal for decades to recognize the existence of black Jews and to grant them the right to immigrate has already been described. But even after they were officially allowed into the country, special treatment continued. For example, state officials tore Ethiopian families apart on the grounds that the parents did not know what was good for their children. In order to “integrate” the children into the new Israeli Jewry, the state sought to place them in boarding schools run by the national-religious movement, which received enormous financial grants for this purpose. Today, representatives of religious Zionism still boast that they were the only current that agreed to accept Ethiopian children in their educational institutions.

In this process, the authority of Ethiopian religious scholars was also undermined in favor of Orthodox Judaism, which was dominant in Israel. The dominant groups in Israel ensured that other experiences and forms of Judaism, from the shtetl in Poland to the village in Ethiopia, which had existed before the establishment of the State of Israel, became less important and marginalized. Furthermore, part of the special treatment of immigrants* from Ethiopia was the compulsion to live in state reception centers for extended periods of time. This internment obligation existed only for Ethiopian Jews, all other immigrants were allowed to choose the type of accommodation. Even today, new immigrants from Ethiopia must expect to stay in such a reception center for at least two years. During this time, they must complete a state-mandated program to officially convert to Judaism.

Feeling of helplessness

Many Israelis of Ethiopian origin feel discriminated against, partly because the state delays the reunification of family members. The integration of the approximately 150,000 new citizens of Ethiopian origin is more difficult than that of the more than one million Russian immigrants who came to Israel at the same time. The Ethiopians had to endure years in reception camps, while housing was quickly created for the Russian and Ukrainian Jews, especially in settlements on the West Bank. In the 1990s, it became known that the Red Star of David aid organization had disposed of blood donations from Ethiopians unchecked for years – for fear that they were infected with HIV.

Like all citizens, Israelis of Ethiopian origin must fulfill their duties and serve in the army. This makes many people feel all the worse about the police’s harsh action against Ethiopian Jews and the judiciary’s treatment of law enforcement officers, which is perceived as too lax. Only about 1,000 euros in bail was required to be posted by the policeman who shot Teka in order to be released.

“There is still work ahead,” acknowledged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, offering his condolences to Teka’s family. Nevertheless, he said, “Israel is a nation of law and order” that does not tolerate protesters blocking roads.

For years, Israelis of Ethiopian origin have complained of disadvantage and discrimination: factories take advantage of them as workers or don’t employ them in the first place, apartment owners won’t rent to them, schools reject their children, bus drivers ditch them – almost all of this is against the law, of course, but many little-educated black Israelis lack knowledge of their rights. And while they may always be isolated cases, there are enough for anyone to tell of such experiences. The feeling of being second-class citizens has become so entrenched.

MP Avraham Neguise says the government has done quite a bit in the fight against latent racism since the demonstrations. “In 2015, there was a demand from the young generation born or raised here to better integrate them into society, and not just see them as perpetual migrant children,” Neguise says. “The government has heard their concerns, and the committee is working on it.”

Ethiopian-born Israelis feel particularly helpless at the mercy of the security authorities: They accuse them – analogous to the problems in the U.S. – of a tendency to control young blacks in particular excessively, to suspect them more quickly, to treat them more brutally than white citizens. The fact that the police are cracking down on the demonstrators only confirms this picture for them, even though quite a number of non-Ethiopian Israelis have joined the protests.

Diverse minority

Today, the Ethiopian community numbers more than 145,000 people. It thus accounts for less than two percent of Israel’s total population. More than half live below the poverty line. “The Ethiopian community is very diverse,” says Efrat Yerday, a doctoral student and board member of the Israeli Society of Ethiopian Jews. “There are people who immigrated to Israel two years ago, others came fifty years ago. There is a middle class and a socially weak class. There are people who barely speak Hebrew and others who speak it fluently.”

“We made mistakes”

Israel is now home to more than 135,000 Ethiopian-born Jews who have arrived in the country in several, largely organized, immigration stages since the 1980s. They make up about 1.5 to 2 percent of the population. From the beginning, their integration into Israeli society proved difficult. This is because many of them came from rural backgrounds and had rarely enjoyed formal education. The cultural challenges they faced in modern, largely European Israel were enormous: a new language, different religious rituals, social norms and everyday demands. According to the Ethiopian National Project organization, which represents the interests of Ethiopian-born Israelis, it is still the population group with the largest percentage of people living below the poverty line: 49 percent of families of Ethiopian Israelis are affected. Most cannot afford access to higher education.

Xenophobia and racism

As a member of parliament, Xenia Svetlova knows the different difficulties encountered by different population groups. But unlike Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, the best-known politician to come from the Soviet Union, Svetlova doesn’t like to talk about a war against those of Russian descent.

“Twenty percent of the population are Israeli Arabs who experience xenophobia and racism on a daily basis. That’s why I’m far from saying that war is being waged against Russian speakers in particular. This is widespread in society and needs to change through education.”

Alla Dvorkin also sees no reason for self-pity. Instead, she wants to name the basic flaw of Israeli democracy, where she identifies it.

“This is a democracy for the Jews. How can you talk about democracy when it only affects a certain group. And not the other group, which is 20 percent of the population. Democracy is for everybody. It doesn’t go together. Either democracy or Jewish state. Fortunately, that has become part of the discourse in society. I think that’s already a step forward.”