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Israeli president admits inaction to meet Ethiopian community demands

Xinhua, May 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Monday admitted that Israel has committed mistakes in its handling of discrimination against the Ethiopian community, amidst a string of protests staged by the community in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

"We have erred. We did not look, and we did not listen enough," Rivlin said in a statement a day after thousands of Ethiopian Israelis and supporters took to the streets of Tel Aviv, shutting down major highways and roads.

The rallies revealed "the pain of a community crying out over a sense of discrimination, racism, and of being unanswered," the president added.

The protests turned violent on Sunday night. At least 60 people were injured and about 40 arrested.

The rallies were triggered by a video clip that emerged last week showing two policemen assaulting an Israeli soldier of Ethiopian descent without any apparent provocation.

A day later, a municipal inspector beat a young Ethiopian man who lives in southern Tel Aviv after apparently mistook him to be an illegal Eritrean immigrant.

The Ethiopian community is expected to stage another rally on Monday in Jerusalem.

Ethiopian leaders are convening with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Ahead of the meeting, Fentahun Assefa-Dawit, executive director of Tebeka, an advocacy organization for equality and justice for Ethiopian Israelis, said the demonstrations should bring the authorities to realize that there are discrimination and racial issues.

"It should be the prime minister's first priority to solve these issues," he said.

Jews from Ethiopia arrived in Israel in two waves of immigration in 1984 and 1991. The community, which comprises some 125,500 people, has struggled to integrate into Israeli society. There have been complaints of discrimination in education and housing. Endit