Ethiopian-Israeli Jews protest racism in society, policing
(The Christian Science Monitor) Tensions over Israel’s absorption of Ethiopian Jewish immigrants that have simmered for decades exploded into the open in early May, leading to dozens of injuries and more than 20 arrests.
Thousands of twentysomething African Israelis clashed with police in Tel Aviv. Protesters had gathered to denounce the beating of an Ethiopian soldier by law enforcement officers—captured on videotape—in the Tel Aviv suburb of Holon the week before.
Coming just four days after violence broke out at a similar protest in Jerusalem, the clashes escalated a national debate among Israelis about the persistent discrimination faced by a dark-skinned immigrant community once welcomed to Israel with national celebrations.
