Ethiopian-Israeli law students are to meet with their African-American counterparts in a new program designed to foster leadership in the Ethiopian community here and improve Israel's image abroad.
Under the program, initiated and financed by Jewish American philanthropist Joey Low, nine Israeli law students of Ethiopian origin will spend two weeks in the United States in January where they will meet with Black and Jewish students and lawyers, local politicians and representatives of the Black Bar Association and "100 Black Men," an alliance of Black professionals and business leaders.
Low, with the help of Ethiopian advocacy groups in Israel, is seeking "talented and committed" Ethiopian law students, articles clerks and newly qualified lawyers who speak good English and are "proud to be Israeli" for the trip.
"They can offer something very special," Low says of the Ethiopian law students this week. "We want this trip to give them a boost, but it will also open the eyes of Jewish and non-Jewish Americans about what is going on in Israel. We want to show Black Americans the opportunities that Israel is offering to these Ethiopians who want to be lawyers."
Low is planning to arrange summer internships at New York law firms for the participants during the trip, in order to make them more attractive candidates to Israeli law firms on their return, and later to try and help them study for an LLM (Master's degree in law) in the United States.
The new program grew out of Low's "Israel at Heart" initiative, which sends young Israelis to speak at schools, colleges, churches and synagogues abroad to present the Israeli side of the conflict with the Palestinians. Since founding Israel at Heart in 2002, Low has spent more than a million dollars from his own pocket on flying some 200 young Israelis to North and South America and Europe in the belief that non-politically affiliated youth can do a much better job of countering Israel's poor image abroad than Israeli politicians or government officials.
Low made a deliberate effort to include Ethiopian-Israelis in the groups, as he views them as a "very important way to bridge the gap" between Jewish and Black communities in the U.S.
"Many people believe Israel is a racist state, but you can diffuse the issue when a black person is not only Israeli, but speaks about Israel with pride," says Low. "These students have been in the army, at university and they are integrated into Israeli society. They are a tremendous asset."
`Coming out party'
Low, a one-time sponsor of Meretz and Peace Now, describes the trip as a "coming out party" for the Ethiopian students. "This is their chance to let people hear about what is going on in their country and to represent their community. I believe Israel would get a lot more support from both Jews and non-Jews if they knew more about what was going on here."
Another target for Low is the large number of liberal Jews in America, who he says have cut off any affiliation with Israel because they see it as oppressive. "These students can make them proud of Israel," he says.
Low is adamant that he is not trying to sweep the problems of the Ethiopian community under the carpet. "Everyone is aware there are serious problems and nobody is trying to hide them," he says, referencing the questions of Jewish status that the community has had to deal with and the strain on many young Ethiopians to help their parents cope with the adjustments of living here. "The way you address these problems is to draw attention to them," he says.
"The purpose is not for our students to say there is no racism in Israel," says Batia Eyob, executive director of the Israel Association for Ethiopians, who has assisted Low in devising the program. "Rather, it is for them to speak frankly about their lives as Black Israelis - the successes, the difficulties and the challenges."
Eyob says the initiative will also serve to counter negative stereotypes of Ethiopians in Israel as "primitive, uneducated and a burden" to Israeli society. "By showing a face of the community that people don't normally get to see - the successes in the community - we will improve our image and show that we have a lot to contribute to Israeli society, particularly in terms of improving Israel's image abroad. It will bring out a different aspect of Israel - the social and economic - instead of just focusing on politics and the conflict."
Eyob also hopes meeting and sharing experiences with African American groups in the U.S. will help the students enhance their own identities as Ethiopian-Israelis. She says that those selected for the trip will undergo training to prepare them for public speaking and get help in improving their English.
Role models
Also helping to devise the program are Itzik Dessie, executive director of the Tebeka center for legal aid and advocacy for the Ethiopian community, and Sagi Laicha, an articles clerk at Haim Zadok's law office in Tel Aviv.
Ethiopian-born Laicha, who met Low when he joined an Israel at Heart delegation, says the trip will offer students a chance to broaden their education and see how other legal systems work. He hopes that the graduates of the program will become role models for young Ethiopians in Israel. "This is what we lack in the community, we need to develop leadership - a professional leadership."
According to Dessie, who is responsible for spreading the word about the trip to potential candidates, there are 13 Ethiopian lawyers in Israel, 15 law graduates soon to take their bar exams and 75 law students. "Our challenge," he says, "is how to help these law students and lawyers become among the best in Israel."
