Ethiopian students affair shows prevalent racism in Israel

Gideon, you keep right on going. This is one of the best you've written. The number of comments from people quick to make excuses for Israeli racism just proves your point. Here's a thought experiment: Substitute "Nazi" for "Jewish" or "Israeli" and "Jewish" for "Ethiopian" or "Arab" and see if you're equally comfortable with the comments being made. I seriously doubt it.

sure there is racism in Israel , not necessarily more than other countries in these days, just imagine that in 60 years you'll have immigrants from 102 countries wont you have a bit of problems? not to mention other stuff.. these schools dint want those kids not because of the color of their skin but because the government sends a lot of poor underprivileged kids only to these schools and doesn't supply the education system with the proper tools to help these sons of immigrants that is the real problem so you can say Israel cant treat immigrants and that will be the truth ( also Ethiopian kids study in these school the debate was the number of poor kids to go to that school in that year specifically). there's plenty of criticism against Israel but in this case only since these kids are black you shout racism.so while Racism does exist in Israel that is not the case here p.s goto an Israeli hospital where you see people of all colors and religions being treated the same

When a Jew discriminates against another Jew, isn't that anti-Semitism? Or since the Ethiopians are black, is it just racism?

Here is a practical test in logic for you. Most people who are arrested by the Israeli army suspected of terrorism are Arabs. Conclusion: the Israeli army is racist. Or again, most people who sit in American Jails are black. conclusion, the American law system is racists. And so on. This argument form can also be turned in reverse: Most terrorists are Arabs. Conclusion: Arabs are terrorists. Or, most criminals in the US are minorities. Conclusion: minorities are criminals. Where lies the fallacy? In that that from the fact that x is P and x is F, it does not follow that x is P because x is F. The Ethiopians are barred from the religious schools not because they are black, in the same way that the Russians are barred from the very same schools not because they are Slavic. Rather, it is because it is believed that they are not Jewish! Whether this is right or wrong is besides the point of RACISM!

Gideon, where is the country without racism you take to compare with Israel? Norway, Sweden, Iran, Germany, England, Syria, Liban, Lybia, Sudan..? Gideon, name first a country to compare with and then write again your article.

As usual, the shteltl is looking to have its cake and eat it too. On one hand they would like Israel to be accorded the respect and benefit of the doubt accorded to all western democracies, while simultaneously demanding that Israel's behavior be measured against the behavior of terrorists, despots and cleptocrats. If one takes into account the considerable discrepancy between Israel's actions and its platitudes about democracy and the rule of law, then the shtel's need for such a dichotomy becomes apparent. Unfortunately for arthur and the rest of Chelm, Israels behaviour is not conditional upon the actions of those that it purports to be morally superior to.

It is ironic to hear some Brooklyn Jews that haven't been that long in Israel saying that these descendants of Solomon are not Jews and that they don't want to mix with them. Those Ethiopians are more probably more Jewish than they are and as someone remarked, these people being humiliated were told they were Jewish and induced to go to Israel. They probably had never heard of Israel and nobody was persecuting them at the time but they were needed for the PR and to goose up the numbers.

Dear Gideon,-Once again you are the voice of truth. My 6 kids have been terribly upset by what the Ethopian Children are going thru especially since the schools they attend have many Ethopians but none of these problems. Once again I have to face my children with great shame and explain yet another racist aspect in Israeli society. I can not figure out why the people in these talkbacks are even reading Haaretz let alone such a wonderful and truthful writer like you.I beg you not to listen to them and keep up the good fight,more people than you know stand with you. Thank you Gideon. There is no justification for any rascism!

How do you interpret that as ISRAEL telling them they are not Jewish?

double shame on us.one shame for being racist,and another for not learning from others mistakes.Race crimes are up all over the world. the media is full of"horror stories"from the US,UK,Germany,France,Italy,yes even Sweden. In working places,the streets,clubs,schools,and football arenas.We had a lot of time to take some preventive methods,but we didn't and now Israel is as bad as the rest.

The Haredi community have shown themselves, too often, as not being ultra-orthodox, but ultra anarchist. They make me ashamed to be a Jew of Ashkenazi origin. They also blatently show, perhaps, why (because of them)the pogroms started and the roots of anti semetism.

Sadly, there remains racism by both Arabs and Jews against darker members of both peoples (the story here being a case in point with Ethiopians, legal black slavery a case in point among some north African states). Racism is clearly defined as prejudice based on difference in race. Overall, Arab/Jewish conflict cannot truly be called racist on either side, as most of both peoples are of the same race, passing as each other always, related, with close languages and more. This conflict is thus mainly ethnic, religious, tribal, family feud, etc... but has never been racial or racist. This shameful racism against Ethiopians must be stopped and will likely, hopefully, lessen with time. But to put it in the same basket with Jews or Arabs being "racist" against each other is wrong. Makes no sense, unless one prefers to distort an English word to suit their agenda, rather than look up the clear meaning of racism.

Yes there are some racists in Israel but it is not prevalent. You have the religious establishment why this occured, it has to do with status as Jews and the differences of opinion as to Ethopian Jews origin as Jews, which for the sake of honesty( and considering they were invited to Israel because of Jewish history) this must be cleared up and sorted out. Just one of the many stupid decisions by the religious establisment that targets not only Ethopian Jews but aganot, non Jews, marriage, etc.etc. Not all rabbis agree and this is the crux of the problem. As to racism in Israel, there is but no more than the average country, and a lot less than some countries. Until Utopia, we shall never have perfection. Shouting this is abolsolute is nowwhere near the truth.

Mr Levy, you present it as we did not know before. It is all about ignorance due to the fact that a lot of jews including israeli jews are closed up in their own world out of contact of other cultures. So when we see smb from a different culture/color even if he is jewish, he is subject of rejection. I have seen it many time in the diaspora and in Israel. The solution has a name and it is called "Education".

No racism in your country for you to concern yourself.? If you are perfect please tell us how you have achieved that?

at every opportunity. If it was prevalent and acceptable the government would not be fighting it.

Really were have you been for the last 62 years mate ,why do'nt ask the Arabs about that ?Or the jews that came from Arab countries ,wake up and smell the coffee

So, if it is true that "An injustice anywhere, is an injustice everywhere", then why does it seem that the NAACP is silent concerning Israel's religious and racial practices of prejudice? Why does the World seem to ignore these issues? Is it because we all insist on stubbornly believing that "Israel can do no wrong"? I sincerely would like to know if it is true that we just quote these "idealizations" only when we wish to further the causes of our own families and communities. Or, do we really have selfless concern for other nations as well?

You know, where people of your political persuasion tore down an Eruv and fight against religious Jews praying.

It seems to me that Israelis are better at killing Arabs that vice versa. Certainly the statistics over the past 20 years indicate that.

I emigrated to Israel about 20 years ago from America. If there was one moment that I felt truly exhilarated and proud to be an Israeli, it was Operation Solomon and shortly thereafter. Days after Ethiopian Jews were being whisked away from Ethiopia, some friends and I met the Ethiopians as volunteers in a hotel in Jerusalem set up as a temporary absorption center. There were so many Israeli volunteers that there was little for us do except watch and participate in the happiness. The pure joy in the faces of the Ethiopians and in the native Israeli volunteers/observers was indescribable and brought me hope. I thought to myself that this would not happen in America. Now America has a black president and Israel has schools that outwardly reject Ethiopians as students. Even though it is just a few schools, I am deeply ashamed and hope we learn from this, and extend what we learn to our relationships to our Arab neighbors.

I need not live in Israel to see it. I see it daily in these talkbacks. ""Jews must be allowed to settle everywhere" ... Got it? Jews ... not "Israelis".

When a country officially discriminates against people for their religion, why is anyone surprised when some of its people start discriminating on the basis of ethnicity?

I can accept racism. I haven't much choice actually -- it's there. People are racist. The Ethiopian thing is a bit above and beyond, though. Israel TOLD these people they were Jewish. It TOLD them to leave their homes, to come to Addis Ababa and wait. It TOLD them they would be welcome in Israel. Sorry, but you can't change your mind now. It was your choice to bring them to your country. You did it deliberately and consciously. You HAVE to accept them.

I strongly support the cause of these children and their families. The justice system in Israel may be slow, but it will prevail. Your support, Mr. levy, may hurt these families and their legitimate claims. You are morbidly anti-Israel. You side with the most virulent anti-semitic elements in the world. Your support for these wonderful families can only make people suspicious. By supporting them, you may hurt them. Keep supporting terrorists and those working for new final solution. You are doing quite well in that area. Leave these wonderful children and their families alone. They will do well without you. Haaretz, I have no hopes, I know you will not publish my posting. You never do. But someone will read this, that's good enough. shalom

Racism is prevalent in Israel, like it is in most other nations, and is a terrible stain on the society. However, we shouldn't equate educational / social discrimination with security checks. Denying a black or Arab child an education because of their race is unacceptable and unjust; common sense 'profiling' in airports based on pure historical reality can save lives.

This one is a real beaut: "Every day security guards check people entering Ben-Gurion International Airport on whether their accent sounds Arab, and no one complains. That is not racism." Aside from the fact that airport security guards do NOT check your accent, Levy simply doesn't notice the obvious: why are there guards at airports? The answer, of course, is that the Palestinians introduced international air piracy to the world. The guards were originally there to protect the entire public - black and white, Arab and Jew, Sefardi and Ashkenaz - from Palestinian hijackers and those they inspired. If there was the blatant racism and apartheid that Levy and the pro-Pal lobby claim, then Arabs wouldn't even be allowed near the airport. But they are, and they fly, and they get checked for bombs and weapons just like the rest of us.

Yeah, that's terrible, and one has to fight racism and injustice. But don't be to hard on Israeli society. because the things you complain about are very common in most western countries, I think, so Israel is no better nor worse. And racist remarks at soccer games are punished in Europe? If that was true, a few hundred thousand soccerfans would be in prison at the moment. I think that's a fairytale or perhaps one single exception in a million. So don't single yourself out as the particularly bad boys, but have a look around. By that I don't mean to silently accept and tolerate the fact of rascism in any society.

Gideon lets be frank, there is no racism in the Arab sector of Israel or in the Arab world? So lets put things in perspective, we know Russian Jews in general are as racist as non Jewish Russian and that is perfectly normal. So I ask you do you think an openly Gay male teacher would be able to teach in an Arab school in Israel or in any other Arab country? I do not think so. Please get it real and compare the situation in Israel with its neighbours and you will find that Israel is not as bad as you describe it.

that's why every single one of his pieces that i've read has criticized israel and not one has offered praise...

I'm therefore expecting, that the Israeli will start a fight rather soon.

there is some racism in Israeli society, it doesn't mean to say the majority of Israeli society is racist. On the contrary, at least Ethiopians, Arabs etc live in Israel. How many Jews are tolerated in Arab countries. And who is more likely to be a terrorist in Israel. An Arab, or a Jew. Profiling out of common sense is different from racial profiling. I recently returned from Israel and was pleasantly surprised at the intergration of the majority of the Ethipian community. This intergration is happening far quicker than immigrants are intergrated in other communities. How well have the Muslims intergrated in Europe? Visit Paris and see for yourself.

Jews make many mistakes - but for security reasons - they continue.

racism. This guy uses hyperbole irresponsibly. the state has stepped in, as it should, and ordered the schools to accept the students and this seems to have been a popular move. That does not suggest that racism is prevalent but that racisim is present. Of course where isn't it present? As to prevalent, just look at Gaza, the West Bank and most of the Arab world. Yes, Israelies are very suspicious of Pals and have negative attitudes towards them. Murder and mayhem does that. As to the justification of the Pals, well murder and mayhem, suicide bombings and targeting of civilians cannot be justified. Yes, they feel aggrieved but so too do Israelies and the only path to a solution is to be forward looking and not be a prisoner of one's sense of history and one's subjective grievances. There is nothing more racist than killing someone, infants for example, not because of self defence, not inadvertendly but willfully because they are Jewish or Arab or Christian.

Gideon, you are right. But virtually every other country is racist too. The question and challenge is how can Israel begin to correct this personal and societal flaw? In a perpetual state of confrontation with ennemies who are murderously racist themself, is it reasonable to expect Israeli society to be morally pure?

Victims of racism know all too well when they have been racisized. And they know they are going to turn this system around. So no need to worry. Israelis can go about their business - until there is no business to go about. Hitler has been put out of business. Republicans have been put out of business.

When Palestinians and Arabs stop trying to murder Israelis, there will be no more inconvenient airport and security checks.