"…[There is a] widespread realization by Ethiopian Israeli community members that the system is the problem. Institutional attitudes and government policies need to be reformed. Segregation in schools, whether resulting from ignorance or actual prejudice, must cease. The provision of inferior services for the community from government agencies must cease.…'[O]ver-policing' experienced by Ethiopian Israelis must be curbed; each complaint against police officers regarding brutality must be investigated and punitive action taken. IAEJ demands zero tolerance towards abusive police officers and the immediate suspension of all civil servants who make racist slurs or use bigoted expressions.…"
From the Israel Association for Ethiopian Jews (IAEJ):
The Israel Association for Ethiopian Jews (IAEJ), founded in 1993, is an advocacy organization working for the full and successful integration of Ethiopian Israelis into Israel on all levels - economic, educational and social. IAEJ receives no government funding in order to remain an independent voice defending equality and justice. Here is their summary of last week's events:
A group of Ethiopian Israeli youngsters gathers together to demonstrate. Like the general population, they too have a broad spectrum of beliefs - Haredi, national religious, traditional and secular. Demonstration after demonstration expressed their common experience: recurring discrimination and prejudice towards Ethiopian Israelis - and, in the case of police interactions, out and out police brutality as shown in the beating of young Ethiopian Israeli soldier Demas Fekada.
Israel is still trying to understand what's happened. "Why now?" "What's not working?" The discriminatory and patronizing hypotheses which have caused the state to create separate, inferior services for Ethiopian Israelis that have contributed to their marginalization, have already been exposed. So what's changed?
What's changed is the widespread realization by Ethiopian Israeli community members that the system is the problem. Institutional attitudes and government policies need to be reformed. Segregation in schools, whether resulting from ignorance or actual prejudice, must cease. The provision of inferior services for the community from government agencies must cease.
Today it is clear that the Ethiopian community in Israel is not a single unit that has just made aliyah. The community today is a wonderfully diverse and multi-layered heterogeneous group made up of first generation adults who came to Israel 25-30 years ago and who experienced great hardship and suffering in their journey to Israel, plus second and third generation younger adults who were born in Israel, and also brand-new immigrants who have arrived within the last couple of years. Ethiopian Israelis must be perceived as individuals, each with his or her own needs.
Students must be provided services and classes based on academic and intellectual need, not based on the fact they are of Ethiopian origin or heritage. Job training or employment programs must be based on economic need, experience and skill level, not because of country of origin. The "over-policing" experienced by Ethiopian Israelis must be curbed; each complaint against police officers regarding brutality must be investigated and punitive action taken. IAEJ demands zero tolerance towards abusive police officers and the immediate suspension of all civil servants who make racist slurs or use bigoted expressions.
IAEJ will continue its focused advocacy with policy makers on both the national and municipal levels, with the community and the public, advancing effective and equitable public policies, fighting discrimination, and working to change prevailing attitudes and policies which consider Ethiopian Israelis a uniform group of perpetual "new immigrants."